Roadblocks

Understanding the Concept of Respect for Life in Serious Illness Case From a Religious Perspective

The Case

Sarah (fictitious name) is a 70-year-old woman with early-stage dementia and high blood pressure who experiences a severe stroke. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother who has lived her entire life within a Hasidic Jewish Orthodox community. Following this event, she is placed on a ventilator (breathing machine) and has a tube placed into her stomach for artificial nutrition and hydration. A neurologist determines that Sarah is in a persistent vegetative state where her eyes do not track people as they walk across the room, her movements are reflex driven, and she has little-to-no chance of interaction with the outside world. Over weeks, she can be weaned from the ventilator and breathes on her own, sustained by tube feeding. Months pass and she develops severe bed sores from lying on her back, multiple infections, and finally kidney failure necessitating hemodialysis, where blood is externally cleaned through a machine. Clinicians at the hospital are concerned about many aspects of Sarah’s plan of care and plan a meeting with Sarah’s daughter and healthcare proxy, Chani.