Is Viagra Kosher?

Yeshiva Students Attend Jewish Medical Ethics Conference

On Sunday, November 1, students from Yeshiva College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine attended a day long conference entitled Judaism and Contemporary Medicine at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in midtown Manhattan. This 10th anniversary conference, run by the National Institute of Judaism and Medicine (NIJM), attracted over two hundred participants. The focus of the seminar, as stated in a letter sent to all participants, was to engage in the study and discussion "of ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas engendered by the 20th century scientific and medical advances."

Conference attendees included medical professionals, Torah scholars, medical students, premeds, students of practical halakha as well as other curious laymen and educated observers. Yeshiva students were invited to the gathering to which an alumnus donor had secured several complementary spots on their behalf.

After a breakfast and welcoming from the associate director of the NIJM, Dr. Yizhak Kupfer, participants were introduced to Dr. Mandel Ganchrow, YC alumnus and president of the Orthodox Union. His introductory remarks noted the widespread involvement of physicians and health professionals in Jewish communal leadership roles. He emphasized the proactive role that all Jewish professionals, and particularly doctors, must play as communal organizations expand to meet the needs of the next millenium.

Following those remarks, a plenary session of participants and speakers explored the moral, social, and traditional Jewish legal responsibilities of the patient and the physician. This included discussions involving the patient's legal and ethical duty to lead a healthy life, as well as the extent to which the Jewish community is responsible for those who fail to uphold their responsibilities. That session was led by Dr. Fred Rosner, a world-renowned authority on medical ethics, and Visiting Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. It also featured Dr. Velvel Greene, a professor of epidemiology and public health at Ben Gurion University in Israel, and Director of the Lord Jacobovitz Center for Jewish Medical Ethics at that institution.

The next phase of the conference featured four simultaneous sessions. Two of these sessions, however, garnered most of the attention. The first, entitled New Gene Technologies, was led by Dr. Leon Zacharowitz, a pediatric and adult neurologist at Nassau County Medical Center, and Yeshiva's own Rabbi Dr. Moses D. Tendler, a noted authority on medical ethics and its relationship to Jewish law. There, Rabbi Tendler reviewed many current uses of molecular genetic techniques and the social ramifications they present.

The other lecture dealt with organ donation and the division of scarce resources, that is, organ rationing. This session was led by Dr. Eli Friedman, a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the State University of New York - Health Sciences Center Brooklyn (Downstate), who established New York City's first hemodialysis center and renal transplant facility. Joining him was Rabbi Dr. Edward I. Reichman, an attending physician at the Montefiore Medical Center Emergency Department, and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Medical Ethics and Philosophy at Fordham University. Dr. Friedman presented the various concerns with organ donation as well as current statistics on the rate of donation. More importantly, he addressed how, practically, physicians deal with the glut of patients who effectively compete for what few resources are available for treatment. Dr. Reichman, a recent musmakh of RIETS, brought in a Jewish counterpoint, delving into the sensitive halakhic issues that arise with organ donation. Interestingly, that session, which featured a number of current and former YU students, was the forum for an almost combative theological argument following the formal presentations.

The seminar's lunch session featured an address from the Honorable Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), United States Representative for New York's Eighth Congressional District. He spoke about his role in authoring legislation attempting to rein in HMO's, protect the availability of senior's health care, and to ensure women's access to preventative health services. In addition, Dr. Matthew Fink, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Beth Israel Medical Center spoke about his feelings on the direction health care will be taking in the near future. He maintained that it is necessary for us to realize that better health care, in the form of more effective treatments and scientific breakthroughs, does cost money. In order for the state of health care to improve, he argued, people must be willing to accept the cost of such quality care.

Following lunch, another series of simultaneous sessions was held, though one session far and away outdrew the others. The session was entitled, "Is Viagra Kosher? Sexual Function and Health." It was led by Rabbi Avraham Blumenkrantz of Far Rockaway, Dr. Judith Mishell, a clinical psychologist specializing in Jewish approaches to relationships and intimacy, and Dr. Jaclyn Landau Roberts, assistant professor of Ob/Gyn at Downstate. While Dr. Mishell reviewed the Jewish attitude towards intimacy in marriage and stressed its prominence in maintaining a meaningful relationship, Rabbi Blumenkrantz blew the crowd away. As a known kashrut authority, he opened by saying that, due to its traiff ingredients, Viagra is not Kosher. He maintained, however, that the pill may be taken in ways consonant with the Torah's perspective on marriage and intimacy. What followed was a highly specific presentation into the minutiae of married life, though he noted that one should consult his own Rabbi before applying his general principles to any specific case.

After the concurrent sessions had ended, all participants were given an enlightening look into the problems of guiding and protecting the children of Jewish communities. Exposure to drugs, violence, sexual abuse and alcohol highlighted the presentation. Mr. David Mandel, CEO of OHEL Children's Home and Family Services, spoke in very vivid terms of the problems children face in adjusting to the world they are growing up in. Many of the problems, he insisted, go on because the Jewish community either fails to notice them or refuses to admit them.

To end the conference, participants were treated to a heated debate regarding the future of managed care. This session was led by Dr. Eli Friedman, Rabbi Mattis Kantor, a fairly well known rav from Monsey, as well as an executive representing the Oxford Health Insurance Company. Rabbi Kantor emphasized the need for medical professionals, lawmakers, insurers, and patients to look beyond "the bottom line." He stated that since everyone claims to have the good of the patient in mind, it is necessary for them to ignore the monetary aspects of the health care debate and pursue a path which will enable them to deliver quality health care to everyone. Meanwhile, the representative from Oxford stressed the importance for doctors to correct their "rapacious" behavior as a solution to recent price increases. As a final word, Dr. Friedman reminded the crowd of Oxford executives' yearly salaries, which run in the millions of dollars.

The conference, well attended by a broad spectrum of interested individuals, focused its participants' attention on a number of concerns facing those in the medical profession today. Yehuda Burns, a YC senior who attended the conference, noted the "desire on of those attending to listen to the various points of view presented." He also noted, with pleasure, the strong YU attendance at the conference.