Q. I'm a frum physician working in a hospital that is very busy these days and I have a few shailos. There is a significant number of Jewish patients that I with the rest of the staff attend to. Due to the great need for room in our hospital these days, the DNR instructions are strictly enforced. I have requested other doctors and nurses, that at least when a Jewish patient, that I can point to them, is about to pass on, I should be informed, so at least he/she will not die all alone, since family members are not allowed in. I carry a pager that vibrates when a message is sent. Can I do that on Shabbos and Yom Tov?
A. Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that you may give those instructions and follow them, since as is the pager is on anyway and needed constantly for pikuach nefesh and saving lives. Besides, the Rov pointed out, that if a patient is near death, your presence may actually save his life or at least extended it, by taking on a proper decision, that others may avoid during these extreme covid times.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
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