By COLlive reporter
Eliyahu Elkaslasy was an Israeli native in his 60’s living in Las Vegas, Nevada. After suffering a debilitating stroke, it was deemed necessary to put him on life support. Late one Sunday night, a doctor came into the room to discuss a course of action with his wife, Galia Elkaslasy.
When Galia understood what the doctor was implying, she felt the blood drain out of her face. She grasped the bedrail weakly and stammered, “I must have heard wrong, can you please repeat what you said— and slowly?”
“Mrs. Elkaslasy, I am very sorry, but your husband is very ill,” the doctor said. “He is on life support and there is no hope for recovery. Pursuant to your husband’s wish to make an anatomical gift of his organs, and considering his current state, we will be removing him from life support in several hours.”
The doctor added that a surgical team was ready to harvest his organs. “The surgery is scheduled for 3:30 a.m., so take your time to say your goodbyes now,” the doctor instructed.
Galia shook her head, trying to keep the hysteria out of her voice. “There must be some sort of mistake here,” she firmly said. “You have the wrong man. My husband is a religious Jew, and while organ donation is admirable, it is against our beliefs. There is just no way he would have registered as an organ donor.”
Seeing that she was adamant in her refusal, the doctor pursed his lips and left the room. He returned several minutes later with a member of the hospital staff, who showed Galia the document stating that her husband had indeed registered as an organ donor when he had renewed his driver’s license recently.
Again, she shook her head. “English is not my husband’s first language. I can promise to you that he did not know what he was checking off and signing on. You cannot go forward with this! I will not allow it! As his wife, I refuse to allow you to move forward with the surgery!”
A hospital staff member explained that under a recent bill passed in Nevada, there were new rules on how to proceed if one wished to revoke an anatomical gift. While it was possible for a spouse to retract the donation order, she would need to bring her marriage license to the hospital immediately if she wished to step in.
At that point, Galia broke down and began to weep. While she was happily married to Eliyahu for decades, it was a halachic marriage. They had never filed to be married in civil court, and therefore there was no official marriage license to show.
Galia called local askanim to see if they could help. They sprung into action. Lawyers were called, and even though it was the weekend, they got to work. Every method was attempted to reach a judge in order to file a temporary restraining order against the hospital.
Many organizations worked feverishly on the case, including Misaskim of New York and California, Chayim Aruchim, Hatzalah of Las Vegas, and the people of the Chabad shul. One lawyer from their shul wrote to the head nurse that he will take legal action against the hospital.
The response was that the risk management from the hospital said they should go forward with the surgery anyway. Galia also spoke with Rabbi Yisroel and Shternie Schanowitz, Shluchim of Chabad of Summerlin in Nevada who pleaded with the organ donation service not to go ahead with the operation.
It was all in vain. The hospital went forward with the surgery, even earlier than the time the hospital staff had told them. When he was brought to the chapel for the funeral, medical staff came again to harvest even more from the body. Eliyahu ben Dovid was buried in Eretz Yisroel.
Yankie Meyer, founder and director of Misaskim, says this saga with its horrific ending should teach the Jewish community two things.
He said it shows the importance of a civil marriage, in addition to a halachic one. “Many members of the community are married halachically but not civilly,” he points out. “In any situation, where a married adult cannot make a decision on their own, the power of attorney is legally transferred to the spouse. If there is no marriage license, matters get much more complicated.”
Additionally, he adds, “people need to be aware of how easy it is to inadvertently become an organ donor. When renewing your license, if you do not wish to make any anatomical gifts, be careful and do not select that option.”
Meyer adds: “The back of the license also has a space where one can sign to become an organ donor. If you do not wish to be one, I suggest you take a pen or marker and write VOID in that spot or mark it strongly with a line so that no one can then sign in your name, chas v’shalom.”
The issue of organ donation in the United States is one that has been brewing with change for years. The United States operates under expressed consent in regard to organ donation, which means one has to opt in to be considered an organ donor.
However, there is a small but alarming number of bills quietly cropping up around the country, with legislators lobbying to change their states to adopt the presumed consent approach.
Meyer says this change would mean that any person applying for a driver’s license or state ID would need to specifically opt out of organ donation. If they do not do so, they will automatically be assumed to be an organ donor. “It is vital for us to keep our eyes open and be aware of changing laws so that we can do ours and make informed decisions,” he said.
Stay far away from it.
Stay away from any hospital…
People dont choose to go to hospital lol
Tragic story.
Thank you for sharing.
This message is important.
Im actually shaking from this story…
Moshiach now!
no words
and the staff involved with this at the hospital
no words for them either
Moshiach NOW!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that lawyer does sue the hospital for their cruel insensitivity!
😢
I would imagine they can’t sue anyone because nothing was done wrong legally :'(
Although the story is truly sad, I am glad to read that Las Vegas now has a Hatzalah division.
Keep up the great work
The hospital staff responsible for this earned themselves a nice big share in gehinnom.
Please note that on the New York Health Care Proxy Form (https://health.ny.gov/publications/1430.pdf), Item #6, it says the following:
“If you do not state your wishes or instructions about organ and/or tissue donation on this form, it will not be taken to mean that you do not wish to make a donation or prevent a person, who is otherwise authorized by law, to consent to a donation on your behalf”. It is of extreme importance to specify that you do NOT want to be an organ donor nor a tissue donor!
They committed murder, and from the sound of things they are serial killers.
Murdered the man.
Why can’t we donate our organs?
Is it not a mitzvah to provide someone else with the gift of life when we ourselves are about to die?
It’s just our physical body, our neshama doesn’t need organs to survive.
Medically, someone without brain function is considered dead. Halachically, the person is dead once their heart stops. So donating organs usually means ending someone life according to halacha. After someone is halachically dead, it is allowed to donate organs to save someones life. NOT for medical research which is what often happens.
We can donate organs – BUT – it’s got to be within halachic guidelines. It’s not so simple. Anyone who feels they want to be an organ donor should certainly explore it with halachic experts.
In halacha you aren’t allowed to kill someone (no matter how close they may seem to death) in order to save another person’s life. It’s only allowed if it can be done without causing harm to the donor (e.g. kidney donation)
Iddishkait indeed IS about the body
Its a very deep idea to elaborate now..
The organs especially the heart are taken while the person is alive before the machines keeping him alive are shut off. Exception would be corneas taken after death. So they take organs from a living person for transplant
There are also transplants etc after an accident c”v, how is that possible then?
Jewish law prohibits desecration of a dead body (nivul hamet). A dead person’s body, since it once housed the holy soul, is to be treated with the utmost respect. Every part of the body must be buried
All these people trying to help and no one knows how to forge a marriage license?
If she ask for the original statement and break it in front of then?
For sure at minimum it would delay everything..
Bdh
I know people that have to renew their license right now
Is this usser in all cases?
Rabbis from chabad have given live donations of part of liver or a kidney to a specific jewish person to save a life. Doesnt involve killing someone for their organs
Thank you Ms. Baila, I now made sure my loved ones are not signed in for “organ donation”.
May your husband rest in light and peace. And may this injustice be avenged with showers of blessings to him, you and your family. Ad mosai!
The issue is rife with halachic controversy; but this means that there are circumstances when a Jew is absolutely permitted to donate a life-saving organ.This is not about harvesting organs for research; it is about saving a life immediately. Our community is woefully ignorant of the very specific halachic issues; it’s not true that organ donation is prohibited by halacha. There is a halachic way, and as a nation of compassion, we need to learn these laws.not to become experts, but to be aware. How tragic is it if a young mother of children dies for lack of a life-saving… Read more »
I know of a nurse who quit the job after seeing too many traumatic incidents where the brain dead patients heartrate went up during the organ harvesting surgery and how they give them a paralyzing drug so they can’t move but not a general anesthetic, another time the patient wasn’t given enough of the paralyzing drug and twitched during surgery ,another patient declared brain dead actually woke up from the coma while being led in so it was cancelled and although the patient later died it shows how eager they are to speed the process of death or put a… Read more »
It’s too late to use organs to save someone’s life.
Today we have the technology to keep the heart beating by a machine. This is the controversy among halachic experts. If the heart is beating only because of the machine, is the person ‘alive’?
I work in a hospital, assign a power of attorney for both personal care and finances. You can change your POA and you don’t need a lawyer to sign the forms, you just need witnesses. I’ve seen too many things go astray without the documents in place.
This is terrible; I can’t believe that such a thing could happen in this day and age 💔
BS’’D.
They harvest organs for HUGE profits!!!
This was an opportunity for the hospital to make quick cash. The advice in the article is very important and should be taken immediately by all!!