As people live longer, questions about the decision-making process regarding care for the infirm and elderly have grown more prominent. A 2010 TRADITION essay by Judah Goldberg makes an invaluable contribution to our thinking on these matters. Yitzchak Blau shows how Goldberg's analysis touches on the nature of medical knowledge, the relationship between doctor and patient, the value of autonomy, and how formalistic halakha is.