Nibul Hameis - Dissecting Halacha’s Approach to Anatomical Donations
When it comes to patient care, we understand the need and responsibility to provide the patient with proper dignity1. However, what rights does the patient have to dignity posthumously?
We find many instances where the Torah discusses the need to treat corpses respectfully. In Parshas Ki Teitzei, the Torah tells us regarding a convicted felon, לֹא־תָלִ֨ין נִבְלָת֜וֹ עַל־הָעֵ֗ץ כִּֽי־קָב֤וֹר תִּקְבְּרֶ֙נּוּ֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא “ Do not leave the corpse overnight, for you must surely bury him on that day.” Here, we learn the importance of immediate burial, even for those whom the Torah commanded to hang publicly. Similarly, according to one opinion in Medrash Rabba2, Yosef predeceased his brothers in response to his choice to embalm Yaakov, thus delaying the burial process by many days.
Seeing the sensitivity the Torah maintains regarding the physical state of the body, raises the interesting and complicated question of autopsy. Traditionally, there are two reasons autopsies are performed: either to determine the cause of death or to use the body for some advancement of medical knowledge. In the remainder of this essay, we will examine what Halacha says about the latter type of autopsy.
When considering any autopsy, there are four primary concerns brought in the Poskim:
Disgracing the Dead (Nibul Hameis)
Delaying/Abolishing Burial (which, as stated above, is a mitzvah in Parshas Ki Teitzei).
Benefiting from the Dead (Chazal learn (Sanhedrin 46B) that all benefit from a corpse is Asur min haTorah).
Desecrating the Holiness of the Dead (because the human body housed the neshama, the body has the Halachic status of Tashmishei Kedusha (i.e. a Sefer Torah cover) which must be buried after use).
Chasam Sofer (Shu”t Y.D. 336) rules that while one may perform an autopsy only in a case where the autopsy will assist in solving immediate Pikuach Nefesh issues. (An example of this could possibly include autopsying bodies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the information could help us understand how to treat those in critical condition.) However, the Chasam Sofer rules that the heter of Pikuach Nefesh would not allow a Jew to donate his/her body for general posthumous research. The basis behind this ruling is that using a body to advance science and knowledge is considered too indirect to invoke the heterim of Pikuach Nefesh.
R’ Moshe Feinstein (Y.D. 2:151) presents another reason why such research would not constitute Pikuach Nefesh. Just as we do not obligate everyone to know how to swim in case they see someone drowning, we do not obligate everyone to learn medicine out of concern that they will encounter someone needing medical attention. Essentially, R' Moshe understands that the Mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh commands us that if we have the ability and opportunity to save a life we must do so; however, it does not obligate us to learn how to save a life. Because there is no mitzvah of pikuach nefesh in the actual dissection, one would be violating the issurim mentioned above without a mitzvah to support such actions. As such, most leading authorities forbid one from donating their body for scientific research.
Adapted and translated from Rabbi Yossi Sprung on medicalhalacha.org