Q&A: Poison and Remedy
Poison and Remedy
Question
It is forbidden to kill oneself or someone else by drinking poison, even if it will only take effect later. If a person has in hand a medicine that neutralizes the poison, is it fully permitted to drink the poison and afterward drink the medicine?
Answer
If the neutralization is certain, then why not?
Discussion on Answer
With God’s help, 1 Shevat 5781
What gives room to question the permissibility of swallowing poison on the basis of a tested medicine that will neutralize it is that even a medicine considered tested has a certain percentage of cases in which it does not work. All the more so since every person is different from his fellow, and there is always the risk that specifically for this person, the medicine will not work.
So why take poison, even with a one-in-a-million risk that the medicine will not work, such that the person who consumed the poison brought about his own death? Why enter into such a risk? Are there not healthy and nutritious foods?
Best regards, Simcha Fish”l HaLevi Plankton
I wanted to make sure there isn’t some fine-tuned pilpul here such that the act of killing would be considered like throwing a vessel off a roof, and the medicine is not like cushions and pillows but something else entirely. Thanks.