News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Ministerial Committee on Legislation is slated next week to discuss the legal definition of death in context of the need to increase “harvesting” of organs for life-saving transplants.

A bill proposed by Kadima Knesset Member Otniel Schneller would create an interdisciplinary committee of rabbis, doctors and legists to create a program that would qualify certain doctors to designate the moment of death.

It is hoped the measure would lead to a definition of death as well as criteria under which even religious Jews would find it acceptable to donate organs from the deceased for transplants to keep others alive.