Drunken teen thugs nearly cost 9th grader his kidney

“The vacation just began. It’s a shame that alcohol and a few crazed kids destroyed it for me," says Or Ben-Simon.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
or ben simon 311 (photo credit: Eli Dadon/Carmel Medical Center)
or ben simon 311
(photo credit: Eli Dadon/Carmel Medical Center)
The ninth-grade pupil from the North who was stabbed by another youth Sunday at Haifa’s Denya Center in an apparently unprovoked attack is in stable condition and is slowly recovering at the city’s Carmel Hospital.
Fifteen-and-a-half-year-old Or Ben-Simon was having a night out with friends after the end of school. The attackers, who had apparently been drinking, picked a fight with Ben-Simon and stabbed him in the back. A store owner in the area witnessed the event, tried to separate the groups and called an ambulance. The victim was rushed to the emergency room, where the bleeding was stopped, and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit.
The knife penetrated seven centimeters into Ben-Simon’s body and lacerated his kidney. He lost over a liter of blood.
Dr. Lavi Arison said Ben-Simon had been lucky the knife didn’t slicethrough the kidney. The youth is slowly recovering, and his familyhasn’t moved from his bedside.
Pediatric emergency department head Prof. Haim Bibi said, “We are onlyat the start of the high school [summer] vacation and already we aregetting quite a few cases of violence like this. There are alsochildren who fall from bicycles and other traumatic injuries. I call onparents to keep an eye on their children and ensure they stay away fromalcohol and don’t stay out late; this can be very dangerous to childrenand teens.”
“I certainly won’t go out at such a late hour,” Ben-Simon promised.“The vacation just began. It’s a shame that alcohol and a few crazedkids destroyed it for me.”