shabbat and the hospital
Question
If I go into labor on Shabbat, and I go to the hospital via taxi, and my doctor sends me home because that's what they do, can I call another taxi and go home? I'm going to Columbia which is in Washington Heights. What If I need to go back again on shabbat? (last time they sent me home and I went back two hours later) it could get costly. What if I have the baby and they make Chaim leave (This happened last time too.) and it's still 1) Shabbat 2) Yom Tov, can he take a cab/ or drive home? Thanks, Tammi
Answer
Answered by Aaron AbadiOnce you go, you can't go home. You bring enough food that the non-Jewish driver can take from the house to the car and then to the hospital, and if they send you home, you camp out in one of the two hundred waiting rooms. If they make you crazy, or they pressure you to go back home, start faking seizures or something. I was once in that position in Freehold, NJ, on a Frida night, and I explained to them that I ain't going home. After their futile attempts to persuade me, they gave in. They became nice and found us beds to sleep on, and we had a nice time. Bring some books along (or Percocet). Good luck! AA