Posted by D.H. on April 27, 2005 at 18:43:31:In Reply to: CPAP for Sabbath observers posted by GFD613 on February 24, 2005 at 11:24:12:
What I do know is this. CPAP is life-saving, and therefore permissible on the Sabbath and all Holy Days.
Compliance of CPAP patients – Jewish and otherwise – is appallingly low! Why do the [Orthodox] Rabbis find it necessary to create additional encumbrances? These encumbrances are likely to make observant Jews not comply at all or comply only six nights a week! Do they put similar encumbrances around other medical devices? Do they require timers on dialysis machines? Do they require you to leave your glucometer on all night Friday and all day Saturday? Do they question the exact workings of these and other devices and require the disablement of certain features?
Also, last week Passover began on a Saturday night. This puts it beck-to-back with the Sabbath, leaving two (possibly three) days in a row where you couldn’t use the “disallowed” features or make adjustments.
If Terri Schiavo had been an Orthodox Jew, would they have required that her feeding tubes be powered on and pre-filled on Friday afternoons and set up to time release her food (with is certainly within the existing technology).
The point I’m trying to make is that, since CPAP usage is clearly permitted 7 nights per week, 365 nights per (secular) year, they should not be putting obstacles in the way of compliance.