Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Introduction -- An outline of "Jewish bioethics" -- Health and healthcare -- Doctor patient relationship -- The human body -- Fertility and very early prenatal life -- Childbirth and abortion -- Care for premature neonates -- Organ transplantation and the brain death debate -- Terminal care and the ends of life.

This book presents the discourse in Jewish law and rabbinic literature on bioethical issues, highlighting practical problems in their socio-historical contexts. Yechiel Michael Barilan discusses end-of-life care, abortion, infertility treatments, the brain death debate, and the organ market. Barilan also presents the theology and spirituality of Jewish medical law, the communal responsibility for healthcare, and the charitable sick-care societies that flourished in the Jewish communities until the beginning of the twentieth century.