Negligence suspected in baby's death

Parents had received "intensive treatment" from social services.

By ABE SELIG
Hospital 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Hospital 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A six-month-old girl who was pronounced dead at Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem on Monday afternoon came from a family that had received “intensive treatment” from the Jerusalem Municipality’s social services over recent years, a municipal spokesperson said Monday night.
The infant was taken to the hospital after police and Magen David Adom personnel found her unconscious inside an apartment in the city’s Katamonim neighborhood earlier in the day.
RELATED:Editorial: The Ben-Dror killingsReport: Arab children shortchanged by social servicesAccording to a Jerusalem police spokesman, the girl’s parents are suspected of “massive neglect” in the case, after police and MDA medics who arrived at the scene witnessed firsthand the grave conditions inside the apartment.
Police estimated that the infant girl had taken sick at some point over the weekend, and was not given proper medical treatment until it was too late.
Although her parents had alerted the authorities to the girl’s condition, police added that it had only been after the girl had seriously deteriorated.
She was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital.
Her parents were questioned by police and released on bail Monday night.
Police were also investigating whether the couple’s six other children, who lived inside the apartment as well, had also been neglected.
Social workers from the city’s welfare services arrived at the apartment to further probe the conditions there.
A statement released by the city on Monday night stated that the family had been receiving “intensive social services” over recent years, although there had been no sign that any of the family’s children were in danger.
“It should be stressed that there was no indication that required taking the children out of the home,” the municipality statement read.
“Employees of the City’s Welfare Services Division maintain continuous contact with parents [who receive treatment] and make every effort to allow the parents to raise their children themselves,” the statement continued.
“[In this case] the city worked to provide the family, as it continues to provide many families, with the maximum amount of support and assistance.”