Judaism and End-of-Life Care

Rapid changes and advancements in medical science, technology and the delivery of healthcare have all contributed to end-of-life becoming a medical event requiring physicians, patients and family members to make complex and challenging decisions. In this course, Rabbi David Albert discusses how Judaism approaches and addresses some of these very challenging end-of-life decisions.

Target Audience

Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Social Workers, Clinical Chaplains, Respiratory Therapists (Direct Delivery), Medical Students and other interested healthcare professionals.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe how Jewish law approaches the four cardinal values of secular medical ethics.
  • Identify key scriptural texts that inform Jewish bioethics.
  • Recognize how Judaism informs end-of-life decision making. 
  • Provide care that is appropriate and sensitive to the Jewish patient’s spiritual and ethical beliefs.
Additional information
Bibliography: 
  • Desilver, D. (2013). Jewish essentials: For most American Jews, ancestry and culture matter more than religion. Pew Research Center.
  • Pew Research Center ACooperman@ pewresearch. org. (2017). A portrait of American Orthodox Jews: A further analysis of the 2013 survey of US Jews. American Jewish Year Book 2016: The Annual Record of North American Jewish Communities, 9-29.

Related Topics

Spirituality and Medicine: Preserving Human Dignity at the End of Life – Cultural, Social and Religious Perspectives

The slogan “Death and Dignity” is frequently used with reference to a human death. Yet it is an ambiguous and often confusing concept. Rabbi David Albert addresses different meanings of human dignity, personhood and the value of life.
Managing the Spiritual Event of Serious Illness

This online course will provide practical, evidence-based strategies in the management of spiritual and religious concerns in order to help patients find comfort in serious illness and near the end of life.
Course Summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 General certificate of attendance
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors
  • 1.00 Nurse Practitioners
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Nursing
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Pharmacy
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Respiratory Therapy
Course opens: 
03/01/2022
Course expires: 
04/30/2025
Part of: 
Spirituality and Medicine: Serious Illness and End of Life

Rabbi David Albert
Senior Staff Chaplain
Pastoral Care Department
South Miami Hospital 

Conference Director
Ana Viamonte-Ros, M.D., MPH    
Associate Dean for Women in Medicine and Science
Associate Professor, Department of Health, Humanities and Society
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University

Due to the nonclinical nature of the content discussed, the speaker and conference director have no relevant financial relationships to disclose. 

This CME activity will not cover content that would involve products or services of commercial interests. Therefore, no opportunity exists for a conflict of interest based on the financial relationships of faculty and those persons in control of content. Since these relationships are not relevant, no disclosure information was collected.

Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer

Baptist Health South Florida is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Baptist Health has been re-surveyed by the ACCME and awarded Commendation for 6 years as a provider of CME for physicians.
              
Baptist Health South Florida designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Available Credit

  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 General certificate of attendance
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Mental Health Counselors
  • 1.00 Nurse Practitioners
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Nursing
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Pharmacy
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Respiratory Therapy
Please login or register for a Baptist Health CME account to take this course.

Required Hardware/Software

PC/Mac Users
PC/Mac Users

This site is supported on the most recent stable releases of the following browsers:

Click Here to Download Google Chrome
Google Chrome		Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge		Safari
Safari		Moxilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Internet Explorer

Attention: Internet Explorer Users
This site offers limited support for Internet Explorer 11 (IE11). When using IE11, you will be prompted to download course videos instead of viewing them in the browser. After the course video downloads, the recordings will play.

Mobile Users
Mobile Users

This site is supported on the following mobile devices:

  • Apple iOS mobile devices running iOS 10 or later
  • Android mobile devices running Android 4.4 or later, with the latest release of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox
Technical Support
Technical Support

If you are experiencing technical difficulties or have received an error message, please send an email to CME@baptisthealth.net and include a print screen of the error message, your browser name and version, username and URL where the error occurred. You can expect a response within 48 hours.