Britain’s Orthodox Jews have been plunged into the centre of an angry debate over medical ethics after the Chief Rabbi ruled that Jews should not carry organ donor cards in their current form. London’s Beth Din, which is headed by Lord Jonathan Sacks and is one of Britain’s most influential Orthodox Jewish courts, caused consternation among medical professionals earlier this month when it ruled that national organ donor cards were not permissible under halakha (Jewish law). The decision has now sparked anger from within the Orthodox Jewish community with one prominent Jewish rabbi accusing the London Beth Din of “sentencing people to death”.
The United Kingdom’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, has issued an edict that carrying donor cards is unacceptable and that the current organ donor system is incompatible with Jewish law. The ruling comes after years of debate among rabbinical authorities over the definition of death and when an organ may be removed for transplant purposes. The new statement from the chief rabbi and his rabbinical court, the London Beth Din, says that organs may be removed for transplantation only at the point of cardiorespiratory failure, rather than at brain stem death. The latest figures for 2010 show that 66% of donations came from donors after brain death and 34% from donors after cardiovascular death, NHS Blood and Transplant said.