1. We mentioned yesterday that R. Moshe Feinstein allows Jewish medical or emergency personnel to drive home after an emergency on Shabbat, while R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach only allows a non-Jew to drive them home. Although the majority of poskim agree with R. Auerbach, some contemporary poskim write that nevertheless, since many responders are frequently called to save lives on Shabbat, they indeed would not go to do so if they would not be allowed to return home easily. Therefore, according to these poskim, one may even drive home oneself on Shabbat (Orchot Shabbat, vol.3; R. Bleich, Contemporary Halakhic Problems, vol.4, https://www.sefaria.org.il/Contemporary_Halakhic_Problems%2C_Vol_IV%2C_Chapter_VI_Returning_from_Missions_of_Mercy_on_the_Sabbath).

2. Even according to the lenient approach that emergency responders may drive home themselves, many poskim maintain that doctors and nurses serving on a regular shift at the hospital would not be allowed to drive themselves home, since they are paid for their work and they understood when accepting the job that they would need to work on Shabbat. Therefore, the logic that they otherwise would not go out to save lives may not be applicable. Asking a non-Jewish driver, however, is allowed on Shabbat (R. Schachter, B’ikvei Hatzon 9; R. Asher Weiss, Minchat Asher 2:40; R. Eliashiv, He’arot to Rosh Hashanah 23b; R. Eliezer Melamed, Peninei Halacha 27:10). If one cannot find a safe non-Jewish driver whom one trusts to drive them home, it may be permitted to drive in some cases. One should consult a local rabbinic authority.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for everlasting peace in Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.