Dramatic development in an affair that excites senior health officials in Israel following Israel Today's exposures: The Medical Association demands that the director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, revoke the unprecedented approval he gave the Clalit Health Fund to prescribe reduced doses of drugs to cancer patients.
As you may recall, "Israel Today" revealed the exceptional approval given to Clalit Health Fund for the treatment of lung and skin cancer patients.
The Medical Association now warns that the approval is against the provisions of the law, legal case law and medical ethics, and warns that even if doctors act in accordance with the new guidelines, they will bear the professional, moral, criminal and legal responsibility towards the cancer patients they treat.
The extraordinary warning was conveyed yesterday by Prof. Zion Hagai, chairman of the Medical Association, to the director general of the Ministry of Health.
Prof. Hagai noted that he was following the draft circular, which allows Clalit to "unilaterally and unilaterally reduce the official dose of drugs given to patients with lung and skin cancer, almost without leaving doctors room for discretion as has always been the practice," and stressed that the professional committee The National Council of Oncology has already ruled that the official dosage of the drug can indeed be changed, however "while leaving discretion to the attending physician".
Clalit Health Insurance Fund, photographs have nothing to do with the news, Photo: Yehoshua Yosef
Prof. Hagai warned that patients must agree to a change in the dose of the drug in light of the deviation from their official dose, and that in any case "physicians should be left with discretion, as they are responsible at the end of the day. This is essential between therapist and patient. "
Prof. Hagai further noted that the rules of medical ethics oblige every physician to "act in the patient's favor and warn as much as he can in any case where in his opinion restrictive instructions of the employer may harm the patient's health."
In a legal opinion signed by Adv. Leah Wefner, Director General of the Medical Association, the doctors further warn Prof. Ash that in a series of legal rulings in medical malpractice cases, it has already been determined that "bodies involved in financing medical needs must know that they will be held Administrative will lead to wrong medical decisions, "because" administrative medical malpractice is modern medical malpractice, and it stems from budgetary considerations of HMOs and hospitals when they are satisfied with a limited medical staff, and when drugs are less suitable for patient care due to budgetary considerations. "
Clalit Health Fund responded:
"The issue has been discussed and examined by the Ministry of Health in depth, in collaboration with all relevant medical bodies. We trust the ministry that it will complete the move for the benefit of the entire health system."
The Ministry of Health responded:
"The circular was distributed at this stage for reference. All references, including the comments of the RAI, will be discussed."
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