Vacco v. Quill
Supreme Court of the United States (1996)

Informed by classical Jewish tradition which teaches that all human life is sacred, and possessed of the firm view that laws and judicial rulings that undermine the sanctity of human life send a message that is profoundly dangerous for all of society, Agudath Israel speaks out frequently, in a variety of legal and policy settings, on a broad array of issues that arise at the onset and conclusion of the human life cycle. In this court, for example, Agudath Israel has submitted briefs as amicus curiae in the abortion rights cases of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (decision reported at 492 U.S. 490 (1989)) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (decision reported at 505 U.S. 833 (1992)); and -- more directly relevant to the issues involved in the instant case -- in the "right to die" case of Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (decision reported at 497 U.S. 261 (1990)).

Agudath Israel's interest in the issue of physician assisted suicide is especially keen. It is a basic principle of Jewish law and ethics that "[m]an does not possess absolute title to his life or body." J.D. Bleich, The Quinlan Case: A Jewish Perspective, reprinted in Jewish Bioethics 266, 270 (Hebrew Publishing Co. 1979). Agudath Israel believes that recognition of that teaching, as expressed in the historical disapprobation of suicide and euthanasia, has served as one of the pillars of civilized societies throughout the generations. That pillar is now in peril.

It is yet another principle of Jewish law and ethics that a doctor's role is to provide healing, not to hasten death. See I. Jakobovits, Regarding the Law Whether it is Permitted to Hasten the End of a Terminal Patient in Great Pain, 31 Ha-pardes 29 (1956). Doctors who assist in the commission of suicide, even when motivated by the most humane of concerns, exceed the bounds of their own Hippocratic mandate and undermine public confidence in the medical profession. Anthropologist Margaret Mead -- herself a supporter of certain forms of euthanasia, so long as they are under lay initiative and control -- has urged that "the medical profession should not be compromised by participation" in euthanasia; "[t]he physician's dedication to the saving of life is of incalculable value to humanity and must be protected form repeated efforts to involve the doctor in lethal activities." M. Mead, From Black and White Magic to Modern Medicine, 22 Proceedings of the Rudolf Virchow Medical Society 131 (1965). Agudath Israel views with considerable alarm the transformation of the physician's calling envisioned by the decisions below.

Moreover, as representatives of a people whose numbers were decimated little more than half-a-century ago by a society that "progressed" from its "enlightened" practices of "mercy killing" to the mass slaughter of millions of human beings deemed physically or racially "inferior," Agudath Israel is particularly sensitive to the legal assignment of diminished levels of life protection based on diminished levels of life "quality". The decisions below reflect this dangerous trend away from the recognition of life's inherent sanctity and present a stark challenge to our nation's social morals.

Agudath Israel submits this brief upon the consent of all parties.