Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Forbade Heart Transplants because it was murder of the donor
The article below about an attempt at cutting out a heart from a very much alive donor is quite horrifying. The Halachic argument advanced by some, in favor of heart transplants, is that the secular version of "Brain death" is akin to a case in the Talmud of decapitation. Decapitation = Death, Brain death = decapitation,Brain death = Death. Rabbi Feinstein however published several lengthy responsa in which he concluded that Brain Death was not death and that taking out the heart from someone who was brain dead or more accurately in an irreversible coma, was akin to murder. Although there were those (such as his Son In Law Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler) who claimed that Rabbi Feinstein eventually changed his mind and decided that Brain Death = Death, Other Rabbis vehemently claimed that this was not the case and accused Rabbi Tendler of fabricating the retraction. Ultimately what guides many medical decisions nowadays in end of life care is the la...
