Israeli Policies in Gaza: Medical-Ethical Position

Israeli Policies at Erez Crossing, Gaza: Medical-Ethical Position Paper

On the 13th of August the Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), Ms. Hadas Ziv, sent the attached ethical position paper to the Israeli Minister of Defense, the Minister of Health, and the Chair of the Israeli Medical Association, requesting a response and defining the participation of medical teams in a selective classification mechanism for deciding on entry of the sick and wounded from the Gaza Strip into Israel, as a serious violation of the principles of medical ethics.

PHR-Israel conducted a detailed analysis of applications it addressed during the period 14.6-4.7, in order to examine the classification mechanism employed by the Israeli authorities at the Erez Crossing when deciding which patients will be permitted to enter Israel for medical care, and which will remain in Gaza.

The attached position paper analyses the classification mechanism and the participation of medical workers in its procedures from a medical-ethical perspective.

It concludes that “there is no medical-ethical justification for performing medical prioritization within such a system, and that any doctor performing triage in the service of the Erez Crossing Authorities is in transgression of the principles of medical ethics, since s/he is conducting a pseudo-medical procedure out of non-medical motives, for extra-medical purposes and against the benefit of some of the patients.”

See this link for the Position Paper
http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1187523262828.doc

ENDS

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