Guardianship and Advance Directives
A Primer to Filling Out the Guardianship Documents and Advance Directives
Guardianship or Advance Directive?
Cognitive impairment, loss of decision-making capacity, and the inability to communicate together create a complex reality where the patient is unable to express their wishes. However, there are a host of original solutions dedicated to these complicated situations.
Halachic Guidelines for Purim for a Person with Dementia, Those Sick with Complex Disease, and their Family Members
Introduction The days of Purim are days of joy, and the fulfillment of the holiday’s mitzvot – reading the megillah, mishloach manot, matanot le’evyonim, and the mitzvah feast (together with the reading of Parshat Zachor on the Shabbat before Purim, and Taanit Esther) – can awaken pleasant memories and emotions and generally can uplift the […]
The Jewish Perspective on Palliative Care
The goal of palliative care is to provide comfort in situations where a disease is terminal. Does halacha recognize these types of treatments? How much do we factor in the patient’s wishes in these contexts? Is it permissible to administer this treatment when it could shorten the life of the patient? Is there an obligation for man to fight for his life?
Position Paper – The Halachot of Terminal Illness
Does the obligation of preservation of life mandate treatment at any cost? When are we obligated to treat and when is it proper to exercise restraint?
A Compendium of Relevant Halachot
Yom Kippur – A Sick Person and a Person with Dementia
1. Introduction On Yom Kippur we separate from all aspects of life, we abstain from performing melacha, eating, and drinking and we focus on prayer and repentance. For a sick person and those taking care of them, there is no break on Yom Kippur; a dementia patient’s caretakers involve themselves in this throughout the year […]
Position Paper – Obligations of a Dementia Patient on Fast Days and in Mourning Rites of the Three Weeks
Guiding principles, customs, and halachot for the Three Weeks and fast days for a person suffering from dementia and those around them.
Position Paper: Man Himself Before Others
The Torah determines that when faced with between man’s rights and responsibilities to himself and his obligations to others, the approach is “man himself comes before others, no matter what”. What is the moral and philosophic idea behind this fundamental principle?
Position Paper: Medical and Nursing Care of Parents
1. Introduction: The Caretaker’s Identity Treating parents with dementia is one of the greatest struggles a family can endure. This is due to the difficult reality of the situation as well as the fact that the parents have a limited ability to express their wishes (or to affirm previously given directives). At times this ability […]
Position Paper: Honoring One’s Parents vs. Man’s Obligations to His Wife
1. Introduction The mitzvah of honoring one’s parents accompanies man throughout his life, from a young age as a child living in his parent’s home to the age where he must care of his elderly parents. However, there is a fundamental shift in man’s life when he gets married. An additional significant character is added […]
