Can a Goses Survive for More Than Three Days? The History and Definition of the Goses

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive history of the rabbinic concept of the goses, an individual whose death is imminent. It traces the sources of the prevalent opinion, championed especially by J. David Bleich and Fred Rosner, which defines a goses as someone who will inevitably die within three days. This article demonstrates that this definition was never universally accepted and has little basis in traditional halakhic sources. This issue is of great ethical significance as traditional Jewish sources, with rare exceptions, only permit the withholding of medical treatment from a goses, but advances in medical care have led to a narrowing of this category if defined in terms of three days. The awareness of alternative definitions of the goses would potentially allow for the withholding of treatment in more cases when treatment is futile.