According to a Ynet report released in June 2015, Magen David Adom a severely wounded terrorist will be treated prior to less seriously wounded victims in a terror attack.
MDA has followed the lead of other agencies including Israel Police and the IDF, and for the first time since its creation, it has established a code of ethics which among other things compels the organization to treat the wounded in accordance to the severity of injury and standard medical triaging protocol, which means if a terrorist is more seriously injured, s/he is treated before less seriously wounded victims of an attack.
Chief of Emergency Medicine at Ichilov Hospital Dr. Pini Halprin, a prominent traumatologist in Israel who is involved in formulating the code of Ethics explained that it was high time for MDA to formulate a code of ethics, especially in a nation where this dilemma occurs often – the need to treat many victims of an attack as well as the persons who perpetrated the attack.
In fact, this is standard protocol for any EMS organization, but here in Israel, it strikes a sensitive cord with many but this is how the medical community treats mass casualty incident, by adhering to triage protocols without regard to other factors such as religion, race, creed and the like.
The report adds that “other senior physicians agree”, quoting them saying “There cannot be any other code of ethics” regarding medical care.
Bin spoke with Kol Berama Radio, explaining he obviously is not showing empathy for the terrorists, but clearly the EMS organization must operate based on medical protocols, distancing itself from all other considerations.
Bin added at times there are threats to EMS personnel and they will not treat a terrorist until receiving the all clear from police.
That said, it is added that Israeli first responders have been trained and remain cognizant of the fact that at times, a bomber may still be booby-trapped to strike EMS responders. Hence, if there is any question, as was the case in the Shar Shechem attack on Wednesday 1 Cheshvan, responders will distance themselves from a terrorist, even if seriously wounded, until police and/or bomb squad personnel give the all clear.
Zaka Chief Yehuda Meshi-Zahav also spoke with Kol Berama, questioned why the organization decided to use unmarked black body bags for terrorists instead of the familiar Zaka white body bags with the organization’s logo. Meshi-Zahav explained “There is a need to distinguish between bodies of victims and terrorists” and this method has been selected to accomplish this.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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21 Responses
Do ‘medical ethics’ trump the ethics of someone slashing at innocent lives? He has no ethics, isn’t that taken into consideration?
If a crippled snake is biting people do we save the snake first? Who made up these ethics and why are they binding against all common sense? Only the doctors agree with this, no sane person does.
Crazy crazy crazy
CRAZY!! INSANE!!
Which is one more reason why every terrorist should be shot dead on sight before the ambulance arrives.
This makes no sense at all!! A seriously wounded person’s life needs to be endangered because the life of the person who just tried to murder him is in even greater danger?! Help the victim first – not the murderer!
What a very short line from “kol hameracheim al achzorim” straight to “sofo lehisachzer al rachmonim”.
And how about “Habo lehorgecha hashkeim lehorgo”?
It does not say “hashkeim lerap’o”!!
Believe me, the terrorist wants to murder every Jew, including the EMS who is trying to save his life.
Perhaps donors should tell MDA what they think…
@1 It’s to show the world that we are merciful civilized people, not vicious animals like the Palestinians.
Why take away the final wish of the terrorist? They want to die during the act of Jihad so they can get their “reward”. They commit their act of terror with the desire/intension to die in the act. This is total insanity.
Call MDA in israel and tell them
Telephone- +972-3-6300222
Email [email protected]
That’s why I wouldn’t give a penny to MDA
totally unethical
This is why i give my money to Hatzola and not MDA
It’s medical ethics which is made up by some person who obviously doesn’t know the difference between right & wrong. It’s not Torah ethics that’s obviously מן השמים. That’s why we frum Jews don’t understand the policy. & of course if makes no sense. דעת בעל הבית להיפך מדעת תורה
Shows where “ethics” lead when they’re not Torah Ethics..
Don’t kill those terrorists! Don’t arrest them either. 1)Neutralize them 2) Cut their fingers off 3) Send them back home
This will work!
Do they not realize that the terrorist wishes he would be able to jump off that stretcher and Brutality Murder those same exact people trying to save his life!!!
make the families of terrorist pay through the nose for medical treatment!
terrorist should suffer; Jews who help terrorists are not doing other Jews any service.
#9 exactly the same thought!
it would be wise to let them know…
I just hope they meant by treating the terrorist 1st by deepening his wounds…
I sent them a nasty mail, this what they replied:-
תודה על פנייתך.
ברשותך אבהיר את פניי הדברים.
מגן דוד אדום, ארגון ההצלה הלאומי של מדינת ישראל וחבר מלא בצלב האדום הבינלאומי, מחויב להצלת חיים של כל אדם באשר הוא אדם.
בכך הוא צועד במתווה של שבועת הרופאים, שראשיתה כידוע לפי כאלפיים וארבע מאות שנה, ושקובעת בנוסחה העברי כי על צוותי הרפואה לעזור “לאדם החולה באשר הוא חולה, אם זר אם נוכרי, אם אזרח נקלה ואם נכבד”.
על פי תקנות מד”א, על מד”א למנוע ולהפחית סבל אנושי בכל מקום שהוא מצוי בו, מטרתה היא להגן על החיים והבריאות ולהבטיח שמירה על כבוד האדם באשר הוא.
באופן מעשי, למד”א יש למרבה הצער, ניסיון רב בטיפול בזירות פיגועים רבי נפגעים, בהם לפעמים מצויים המפגעים כשהם פצועים לצידם של קורבנות הפיגוע.
צוותי מד”א מפעילים שכל ישר בטיפול באירועים רבי נפגעים, והניסיון מוכיח כי הטיפול במפגעים, ככל שניתן, לא בא על חשבון קורבנות הפיגוע.
אשמח לעמוד לרשותך בכל שאלה ו/או הבהרה נוספת
בברכה,
in other words, they say that they take precaution that it won’t be on the cheshbon of the victims…
This is a completely nothing story.
Victims of terrorist attacks (R”L) – good or bad – always have priority, so the difference in timing for treatment is dakos-dik.
What’s the harm in showing that we Yidden cherish all life … in contrast to the Sonei Yisroel who cherish death.
Mada’s position seems to be based on The Declaration of Geneva, (which is a declaration of a physician’s dedication to the humanitarian goals of medicine):
“I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient”.
(http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/g1/index.html)
Similarly the Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient states:
“In circumstances where a choice must be made between potential patients for a particular treatment that is in limited supply, all such patients are entitled to a fair selection procedure for that treatment. That choice must be based on medical criteria and made without discrimination”.
(http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/l4/index.html)
Obviously the application of these guidelines to a terrorist is ridiculous and was almost certainly not what they meant.
There is an article “Treating terrorists and victims: a moral dilemma”, written by doctors at Shaarei Tzedek, which concludes:
“In our opinion, all patients entering the hospital are unequivocally equal without exception. As difficult as it might be, the medical staff must not be judgmental. Punishment is not the role of the medical staff; rather, their duty and obligation is to preserve life and restore health. Judgment should be the exclusive provenance of the legal system and physicians should practice their art without discrimination and with a clear conscience.”
(http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(15)60674-2.pdf)
The flaw in his argument is that witholding treatment is not “Punishment” as he declares it is. This is someone who has proven that he is willing and capable of murderous actions, and witholding care is a kindness to future victims. But even if he’s right, he’s talking about not treating them at all. Prioritising them is ridiculous if only because their injuries were self-inflicted.
There is a lot of discussion about this in medical ethics, have a look at https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=Medical+care+for+terrorists
I heard from people within MADA that when Eli Bir made his foolish announcement the paramedics laughed in his face.