Bio-ethical dilemmas related to medical treatment in pre-modern Jewish society, as a portal for raising current ethical issues.

ABSTRACT

Real-life ethical issues that concern those engaged in medical practice existed and were discussed in earlier ages. It seems that many of the same dilemmas that we face today occupied our ancestors as well. An investigation of historical sources may be useful in showing earlier methods of coping with the dilemmas relating to health and illness. In this article we will present several such topics taken from the sources of Jewish society in pre-modern Europe. These sources served as the basis for a course given to medical students as part of the Medical Humanities track. The "raw materials" are historical, written Hebrew and Yiddish sources from Jewish society. Genres include Minute books, the huge corpus of Responsa, historical elegies written about epidemics, memoirs, and instruction books written by Jewish physicians. Profound bio-ethical issues can be found in historical sources. Main issues discussed are physician's fees, obligations, and rights; personal characteristics expected of physicians; physician's obligations when his/her own life is endangered; medicalization of certain human conditions; and ideological questions regarding the relationship between traditional folk medicine and modern, academic medicine. The historical distance facilitates a freer discussion about distant people, while getting in touch with our own attitudes.