Ministry of Health investigates extraordinary complaints from senior doctors at the medical institution claiming cancer patients were misdiagnosed and failed in the hospital's surgical department • A department manager claims two doctors in the department are negligently analyzing

• The operating room in the hospital

  Photo: 

  Liron Moldovan

• Barzilai Hospital

  Photo: 

  Liron Moldovan

Exposure: Ministry of Health investigates serious and unusual complaints from senior doctors that struggles between doctors have resulted in wrongful and negligent treatment of patients undergoing surgery last year at the Barzilai government hospital in Ashkelon.

As part of the affair, there are serious reciprocal claims among doctors about serious injury to patients, some to cancer patients, wrong surgery, surgery by inexperienced specialists, and serious mistakes in diagnosing and treating seriously ill patients. Doctors are also making numerous claims about a superficial and inadequate examination of the case in the hospital's management in Ashkelon, headed by Prof. Hezi Levy, who is currently in charge of the director-general of the Ministry of Health in place of Moshe Bar.

The case is now being investigated by Dr. Boaz Lev, the admissions commissioner at the Ministry of Health who is responsible for complaints against doctors. At the same time, the "Control and Quality Committee" has been established to examine the complaints, which is also a member of Prof. Oded Zamora, director of the surgical department of the Asaf Harif Government Hospital in Tzrifin. The first hearing on the internal committee is scheduled for Thursday.

Most often, complaints about doctors are sent to the Ministry of Health by patients and their family, while this time and rarely this complaint was forwarded in February of this year by Dr. Michael Shelman, a member of the Doctors' Committee and Director of the Surgical Day Hospital Department.

On Friday, Dr. Shelman wrote to Dr. Lev about other cases he was seeking to investigate, noting that "mutual accusations of unprofessionalism and negligence in the department fell to medical material that I could not conceal and transferred to hospital management. This is a suspected serious injury to surgeons and allegations of Negligence, unprofessionalism, lies and allegations of falsification in medical records, hiding information from patients and harming them ... The cases shine on management issues and the atmosphere in the department, but patients are the ones who pay the price. "

Dr. Shelman's allegations, as presented in a complaint to the Ministry of Health and transmitted to Prof. Levi's hospital manager from January this year, were about the failed way in which several operations were performed in the department, including that, contrary to the planned, cancerous tumors were completely removed in surgery and the excessive length of the surgery Affecting patients.

Shelman warned that "There is an impression of a silence relationship on this issue ... This is just the tip of the iceberg and we should worry about the hospital's name even before the case goes out to the media, and in light of the behavior towards the surgeons, publicizing the conflict is a matter of time" and that "everyone is aware That in a doctor-ward conflict, the management always takes a side of the manager that is stronger, but this is not the case this time. "

"Israel Today" learned that the affair began after Dr. Gil Ohana, director of the surgical department, made severe allegations from two senior surgeon doctors in the department as of November 2019, and one was even summoned for a hearing because of "dissatisfaction with your overall functioning, indifference you are demonstrating on my visit Patients in the ward, lack of involvement and will in treatment and inattention to the extent of medical malpractice in cases in your care. "

He also argued that there were cases where "material failure to care for patients and did not follow conventional practice and contrary to professional guidance", and that even eight years ago, allegations were made against "blind signing of patients' release letters without examining their contents, and discharge of a hospitalized patient. Without checking except by telephone instruction. "

"Wrong and failed analysis"

In a hearing, signed by Brazilian human resources director Nitza Cohen, it was alleged that in one case, the doctor was responsible in May 2019 for a 79-year-old patient who had undergone a previous bowelectomy, but according to his complaint that the operative area was negligent, "The elderly patient in serious condition needed further and unnecessary surgery." In another case, a claim was made for failure to detect intestinal obstruction in a 70-year-old surgeon, for mistaken treatment of a 46-year-old injured man in the emergency room and a 19-year-old pregnant woman, and for a young patient to have a wrong and failed surgery to repair a surgical problem.

In response to these allegations, the senior surgeon delivered his response to the hospital stating he firmly rejects each and every one of the allegations against him, and the doctor also complained to the Doctors' Committee on "bullying" and claimed that Dr. Ohana told him in front of the doctors and nurses in the department that "you are negligent, you Don't know how to analyze and you're dangerous to patients. "

Meanwhile, 18 senior doctors from the hospital wrote a letter of support to the doctor's committee against which the harsh allegations were made, stating that "as someone who knows the doctor, he is a veteran surgeon for over 30 years, he is considerate, serious and fair, he exhibits patience and modesty towards his colleagues and patients and he With great knowledge and experience, we trust his professional judgment and recommend it. " Among the doctors who signed the letter are also Prof. Boris Yoffe, former director of the Brazilian Department of Surgery. As a result, there were serious struggles between the doctors, in which mutual claims were raised between the doctors about the serious injury to the patients.

Ministry of Health: "The whitewash claim - unfounded"

The Ministry of Health said in response that "following inquiries from doctors from the Brazilian Department of Medicine and the Director of the Department, as well as inquiries from the Doctors' Committee, which raised concerns about the quality of care of some of the Department's doctors, And especially for examining complex cases in general surgery. "

The ministry also stated that "the committee is not limited to examining individual cases. The committee has a very senior external surgeon. Her activities were resumed with relative calm in the Corona hospital's care. The cases requiring reporting to the Ministry of Health were reported as required, immediately, before the commission was established. Every claim about rendering by the hospital management is groundless and false while the cases are being investigated. "This is an event that has been endangered by the Ministry of Health."

Dr. Ohana stated in response that "I received the management of the surgical department three years ago to improve its level and image, and in many sweats and toil I am slowly able to do so. As part of this process, I knew two senior physicians in this department, on a low professional level, who were associated with several cases of negligent medical conduct, and decided to remove them from the department. But unfortunately, these doctors have been given tenure in the system, mainly because of the severe manpower problem that characterizes peripheral hospitals, where it is difficult to recruit good doctors to the periphery, and so you get stuck with low-level ones. The local doctors' committee went on an unrestricted campaign to protect these doctors, disseminating false and false information. "

He added that "it takes a great deal of time and effort to change the image of a hospital and a ward, and there is a great injustice here without justification and basis. , To convene a committee of professional doctors, who will objectively review both cases and see that they are nothing, and that there is complete transparency.