Q&A: Priority in Saving Lives Based on Age
Priority in Saving Lives Based on Age
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Is there room to take age into account when prioritizing saving lives? Suppose there is an elderly person and a young person in front of us—should one prefer to save the younger person first?
Best regards,
Answer
In my opinion, if all other conditions are equal, there is room for that.
Discussion on Answer
Right now there is a person who is suffering and in danger; he needs to be rescued.
But more potential years of life, at a time when the world is struggling and getting tangled up in the question of population explosion—
what advantage does the one with the potential have?
I don’t know. If childhood is seen as preparation for life, then actually the one who is already living has an advantage. He has already gone through the preparation stage and arrived.
Reproductive potential could be a consideration.
According to this, would a small child also take precedence over a young man, say age 25, because he has more years left to live in terms of life expectancy? Or would we say there that the young man is preferable because he is in the prime of his strength and therefore more vital to society than a baby, who at the moment is a burden on it?
In addition, what about considerations like reproductive potential—for example, if there are two people, one infertile and the other not, and in all other parameters they are identical, should one prefer the one who is not infertile?