Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKIN

Question: When praying for someone who is sick, when do we stop praying? Is it after the operation if there was one, after they get out of the hospital, or when they resume their usual activities? Do we still pray for an individual's recovery even after all the doctors tell us that the patient is terminal? What about a patient who is suffering terribly? Do we pray for him to continue to live as well?

Answer: If we are praying for someone who is ill and must undergo an operation, we must certainly continue to pray until after the operation has been performed. Since most authorities consider the patient to still be in a life-endangered state as long as he is still in the hospital - and therefore one may desecrate the Sabbath for the well being of such individuals - then one must continue to pray until the individual is released from the hospital. We believe that prayer can be efficacious and that G-d may step in "even when a sword is laying at one's throat" and therefore it is
appropriate to pray even when all medical opinion maintains that the patient is terminal. However, if the individual is suffering and the individual himself would be relieved if death were to come, then it is perfectly legitimate to ask the Almighty to either cure the individual completely or take the individual in peace.