Following the ruling of the High Court of Justice, which closes the demand for the opening of the Hematology-Oncology Department at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and apparently leads to the end of the struggle between the doctors and the parents of the sick children from Hadassah, Shaare Zedek Medical Director Prof. Yonatan Halevy issued a harsh statement against the Health Minister and accused him of “lacking compassion”.
“Shaare Zedek respects the decision of the High Court of Justice,” the statement said. “With the outbreak of the conflict between the doctors of the pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department at Hadassah and the management of the institution, and when it turns out that the doctors ‘absolute loss of confidence in the Hadassah administration, Shaare Zedek responded to the doctors’ request and asked in good faith, without any ulterior motives, towards finding a solution to the crisis”.
Halevy adds “Unfortunately, the position of the Ministry of Health towards the physicians, the parents of the children who were protesting, medical askan Rav Binyamin Fisher and Shaare Zedek, was accompanied by a total lack of compassion, the details of which were also brought before he justices of the High Court, leading to the solution of the unprecedented crisis in the history of medicine in Israel”.
“The feeling of standing on the sidelines without helping to solve a human crisis is so difficult when Shaare Zedek has the ability to contribute to its solution, as ethics and the doctor’s oath obligate, is a difficult feeling and the considerations that guided the sovereign [authority] in his conduct are puzzling to put it mildly”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Strange wicked bedfellows, the Haredi Minister of Health and the secular Supreme Court. The only good one is Shaarei Tzedek, who wanted to open a new Department but was refused permission to do so by both the Minister of Health and the Supreme Court. Oncology is a very profitable specialty for a hospital, both in terms of patient remuneration and Public Relations, but that of course has nothing to do with Shaarei Tzedek’s displeasure.