Elements of Danger — The Case of Medical Imaging

According to the Book of Exodus, a man who assaults another must pay a physician to heal the wounds. A careful examination of the Hebrew text reveals that the word “heal” appears twice; the literal reading is “and heal he shall be healed.” The 13th-century medieval physician and philosopher Nachmanides interprets this redundant phrase to mean that physicians require permission to heal, for “without the warrant to treat, physicians might hesitate to treat patients . . . `in that there is an element of danger in every medical procedure; that which heals one may kill another.'” This 800-year-old warning seems self-evident, yet . . .