Clinic staff to be investigated on suspicion of denying terror victims treatment

Sunday, November 1, 2015, 20:39 In response to a complaint filed by Honenu Attorney Adi Kedar, the police announced that they are investigating the Arab staff of the Clalit Health Clinic on Hagai Street in the Old City of Jerusalem for their failure to treat the victims of a terror attack which occurred directly opposite the clinic on October 3. The members of the staff are accused of negligence, denying medical treatment, and violation of the ‘Good Samaritan Law’. Aharon Benita (Bennett) and Rabbi Nechemia Lavi, Hy”d, were murdered in the attack. Benita’s wife and son were injured.
Following the broadcast of a report by Channel 2 (Israeli) which mentioned that Minister of Health Ya’akov Litzman ordered a comprehensive examination of the incident, Honenu attorney Adi Kedar filed a complaint with the Merchav David (Old City) Police Department in Jerusalem demanding that a criminal investigation be opened against the members of the medical staff because an examination by the Ministry of Health is insufficient due to the criminal nature of the violations.
At the end of the week of Sunday, October 25, Merchav David (Old City) Police Commander Chief Superintendent Doron Turgeman sent a letter to Kedar in which he wrote that the staff of the clinic, including a doctor, was being investigated. The Arab merchants at the scene of the terror attack, some of whom did not offer assistance to the victims and some of whom further injured them, are also being investigated.
According to the letter, the staff members of the clinic claimed under interrogation that they wanted to go out and assist the victims but were afraid to leave the clinic. However Chief Superintendent Turgeman wrote that the Israeli Police is determined to see that justice is served with those who stood by during the attack, “with an emphasis on the medical staff”.
Honenu Attorney Adi Kedar stated, “We hope that justice will be served with the medical staff. Action must be taken against them concerning both the criminal aspect and the ethical aspect of the case. We have seen in other instances that when it comes to Jewish doctors who merely express certain opinions they are brought immediately before the Ethics Board [of the Israeli Medical Association] and some have been fired. When doctors who have taken an oath to save lives have not fulfilled their duty, the matter must be checked and examined with the utmost scrutiny. I hope that indeed, justice will be served.”