Are healthcare workers obligated to risk themselves during the Covid-19 pandemic according to Jewish law? A response to Solnica et al

Solnica et al argue that “Jewish law and modern secular approaches based on professional responsibilities obligate physicians to care for all patients even those with communicable diseases”. The authors base their viewpoint on the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg and apply it to suggest that physicians are obligated to endanger themselves during epidemics, such as COVID-19. It is argued that Solnica et al ’s analysis of Rabbi Waldenberg’s text and their conclusion that healthcare workers are obligated to endanger themselves while treating patient who suffer from contagious illness during epidemics according to Jewish law suffer from various shortcomings. Indeed, Jewish law looks favourably on healthcare workers who take a reasonable risk in treating their patients in the context of epidemics. However, it is considered a voluntary supererogatory act—not obligatory. Solnica et al may express a legitimate ethical viewpoint. However, it does not seem to represent the mainstream approach of what Jewish law would demand as obligatory from its practitioners

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Health care · Judaism · Pandemic · Political science · Theology · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Philosophy · Psychology · Virology

• Epidemics and the healthcare professional's duty to care

  Open Access•Anna M Kaldjian, Laura Shinkunas et al.•Medical Education•2024

  Add to list

• The healthcare worker at risk during the Covid-19 pandemic

  Open Access•Amy Solnica, Leonid Barski et al.•Journal of Medical Ethics•2020

  Add to list