Saving Lives on Shabbos vol. 4, no. 6
Any procedure which is necessary to perform for the deathly ill patient but it is clear that it does not need to be performed on Shabbos must be delayed until after Shabbos.
Something which the patient feels he needs which is not directly related to healing his physical condition but would bring him greater peace of mind may be performed only if it does not require transgressing a Torah prohibition. A Rabbinic prohibition may be transgressed but one should try to perform it in an different than normal way. If the patient’s mental state will deteriorate if he lacks something which he feels he needs, one may then transgress a Torah prohibition to settle his mind.
In situations where one can desecrate Shabbos to save a life and he can also perform the necessary task in a permitted way he should try to avoid desecrating Shabbos. This applies if the attention to the patient will not be adversely affected by delay or noticeable quality of care.
One should not rely on his allowance to desecrate Shabbos for a sick person for those things which he could prepare before Shabbos. Therefore if a person is ill before Shabbos and he will need care on Shabbos which will include acts which desecrate Shabbos, one should try to prepare before Shabbos what he foresees that he will need to help the sick person.
One should not put himself in a situation where Shabbos will be desecrated on his behalf if he can avoid it. For example one should not choose to have elective surgery on Thursday since this will lead to an unavoidable transgression of Shabbos. However if the surgery was performed, all necessary steps must be taken to sustain the life of the patient.
If one needs to telephone a doctor for a seriously ill person he should try to handle the
telephone in a different than normal manner. He does not need to speak the absolute
minimum of words but he should try to limit his conversation only to the situation and
needs of the sick person. One should not hang up the telephone if it is not needed
for any more phone calls to help the sick person. However, if he is calling a doctor
or hospital and no one else will be able to reach the doctor because he has not hung up
his phone, he should hang up his phone. He should try to return the phone to
its cradle in a different than normal manner.1
1) Shmiras Shabbos 32
