May an elective procedure be scheduled for the second half of the week?

Many medical procedures are necessary but not urgent, so the procedure can be scheduled for any day of the week, especially when scheduled long in advance. This is not a question of pikuach nefesh, where the procedure must be done right away.

Chazal prohibited setting sail within three days of Shabbos, since the discomfort would carry into Shabbos and spoil one’s oneg Shabbos (see previous articles).¹ Checking into a hospital is even more unsettling, disruptive, and painful, affecting the patient’s family too. The Rebbe concluded that it’s thus prohibited to schedule such procedures on Friday, and even from Wednesday on.²

Another, more serious concern the Rebbe raised is chillul Shabbos. A procedure done on Friday (or erev yom tov) brings follow-up tests and treatment into Shabbos, even if allowed as pikuach nefesh. Halacha rules that one may not set out on a journey within three days of Shabbos, where there’s a likelihood that he will need to be mechalel Shabbos for pikuach nefesh (even if only an issur derabanan). The same applies to medical procedures. In addition, much of the follow-up is paperwork and routine testing with no bearing on saving a life. A patient just out of surgery rarely has the strength to refuse it, and if a Jewish doctor or nurse carries it out, he has caused a fellow Jew to be mechalel Shabbos.³

Some argue that medical care is a mitzvah, and that one traveling for a mitzvah may set sail even on erev Shabbos.⁴ However, this only applies if one stipulates that the ship stop on Shabbos, an impossibility for hospital treatments. Even in the view that a mitzvah entirely overrides the three-day rule, that refers to a mitzvah that comes up during those three days, not to one that a person deliberately schedules into them. In any case, the leniency was only to spare a traveler from having to postpone his trip, but one choosing a date well ahead of time can simply choose earlier in the week.⁵

Practically as well, the Rebbe noted, American hospitals are staffed over the weekend primarily by interns rather than experienced doctors, so scheduling for Friday is unwise even for the patient’s own health.⁶ When a person’s health is at stake, he should add merit, so insisting that his treatment take place when the Torah permits it will help his treatment succeed.⁷

See Sources (open PDF)