One who says Tehillim for a sick person who has not recovered for a long time should not stop praying for him unless it is clear that there is no hope that he will recover.
Sources and Explanations
This emerges from the words of the Shevet HaLevi (vol. 10, siman 26), who was asked about one who mentions in the blessing of Refa’enu the names of sick Jews, and there are some sick people who have been lying on their sickbed for several years without any change at all in their condition: is he permitted to stop praying for them any longer? He replied that even if there is the slightest hope, it is certainly a mitzvah to pray for them; but if, according to all opinions, all hope that they will recover is lost, it is possible that it is permitted to stop praying for them.
One should not raise a difficulty from the words of our Sages, of blessed memory, in the Gemara (Berachot 10a), that even if a sharp sword is resting on a person’s neck, he should not refrain from praying for mercy, and if so, one is obligated to pray that he live and not give up hope. For Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ruled in Halichot Shlomo (Tefillah, chapter 8, note 56) that if the doctors have already given up on healing the sick person by natural means, one should not engage in extensive public prayer; rather, they should pray “that it go well for the sick person and go well for his family,” and they should not specifically request his recovery, and Hashem will do what is good in His eyes, as Rabbi Akiva Eiger wrote (on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 30) in the name of Sefer Chassidim (siman 795), who writes: “A person should not pray to request something that is not in accordance with nature, even though Hakadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) has the ability; for example, if his wife miscarried in the eighth month, one does not pray for [the child] that he live. And it is forbidden to pray that Hakadosh Baruch Hu perform a miracle for him that alters the world, for example, that this tree should produce fruit before its time.” Similarly, Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, zt”l, explained (cited in the book Rosh HaYeshivah, chapter 38, note 81) that one need not pray for a sick person whom the doctors have determined has a terminal illness, may the Merciful One save us. He inferred this from the wording of the Gemara cited above: as long as the sword is resting “on his neck,” one must pray, but if the sword is already “inside his neck,” one need not pray; and so it is with this sick person, in whose body the force of death is already embedded, so a prayer for his recovery is considered a prayer in vain. He wrote an additional answer: it is specifically regarding prayer for oneself that it is said one should not withhold “himself” from praying for mercy, but others are permitted to pray for him that he die.
Likewise, it is cited in the book Kav VeNaki (vol. 1, siman 22) in the name of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv that it is forbidden to request something that is against nature; however, one is permitted to request in the blessing of Refa’enu that the sick person’s condition be eased.
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 9: Saying Tehillim for the Sick, Halacha 21 (p. 149 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
