DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Halacha is In Memory of
 Blaze ben Gideon Goldstein

Dedicated By
Elke Shayna and Daniel Yaacov

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
      
(File size: 802 KB)
May a Doctor Receive Payment for Medical Services Provided on Shabbat?

If a doctor saw a patient on Shabbat, such as a doctor or midwife who was called to deliver a baby on Shabbat, may he or she receive payment for the work performed on Shabbat?

As a general rule, it is forbidden to work for money on Shabbat, unless one is also paid for services provided during the week. And thus, for example, a Rabbi may certainly receive a salary for the work he performs on Shabbat, since he also works during the week. Likewise, if a doctor receives payment for monitoring a woman throughout her pregnancy and birth, he may certainly be paid also for delivering the baby on Shabbat, since this payment is received "Be’habla’a" – meaning, it is included together with the payment for his weekday work. The question, however, arises in the case of a doctor who tends to a patient only on Shabbat, such as in an emergency, and now wants to receive payment for his services.

Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in Hazon Ovadia (vol. 6, pp. 3,8; listen to audio recording for precise citation), writes that a physician may receive payment for providing services on Shabbat, because this is considered a Misva. He explains that receiving payment for work performed on Shabbat is forbidden only by force of Rabbinic enactment, and the Sages did not apply their decree to services that constitute a Misva. Thus, for example, Hazanim may receive payment for leading the prayers on Shabbat even if they do not perform any service for the congregation during the week. By the same token, Hacham Ovadia writes, tending to an ill patient is a Misva, and therefore it is not included in the prohibition against working for pay on Shabbat.

Summary: A doctor who tends to a patient on Shabbat may receive payment for his services because this constitutes a Misva, just as a Hazan who works only on Shabbat may receive payment for his services.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
The One Hundred and One Sounds of the Shofar
Rosh Hashanah – Are Women Required to Hear the Shofar?
Rosh Hashana- The Proper Way To Blow The Shofar
The Sounds of the Shofar
Rosh Hashana: Rosh Hashana in the Jewish Calendar
Rosh Hashana: The Hazara of Musaf
Rosh Hashanah – Why Do We Not Mention Rosh Hodesh in the Rosh Hashanah Prayers?
Rosh Hashanah – The Repetition of the Amida of Musaf
Rosh Hashana- Reciting Vidui During the Sounding of the Shofar
Rosh Hashanah – The Length of the Tekia, Shebarim and Terua
Is it Permissible to Move the Tray Underneath the Shabbat Candles on Shabbat?
Rosh Hashanah – The Omission of Hallel; the Torah and Haftara Reading; the Importance of Reciting Customary Piyutim
Rosh Hashanah – Laws and Customs of Torah Reading
Rosh Hashana: The First Night of Rosh Hashana
Shofar – The Shebarim Sounds; Proper Intention While Listening to the Blowing
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found