Five people at Beilinson and Ichilov hospitals were given organ transplants that were infected with flesh-eating bacteria, N12 reported on Wednesday. All five patients did not survive.
This incident, which happened in 2017, is being reported now for the first time, and the families have been fighting for recognition of the deep loss they suffered.
Maxim Kakon was a marble polisher when he developed a lung disease. He waited for new lungs for six months, he was immediately rushed to the hospital. After the surgery, his family was given the bad news that something had gone wrong.
"After the transplant, I saw that he just wasn't waking up or getting off the ventilators," Yehudit Kakon, Maxim's widow, told N12. "The doctors called me over and told me there was a problem: five organs were transplanted in patients, and everyone died. We were in shock. This is a heavy disaster, and someone has to take responsibility.
"I accompanied Maxim to every checkup and every preparation for the transplant. I was with him 24/7. We were never told that the donor may have violent bacteria, and something like this can happen. They ended his life, and he could have lived a good many more years."
The Kakon family is seeking justice and filed a lawsuit against the hospital. In the response, Beilinson wrote that "before the lung transplant, the deceased signed an agreement that stated that it was explained to [him] that the lungs were checked and found to be clean and free of pollution, but there is a possibility of such issued developing in the future."
Raif Sarhan was given the heart and died a week after Maxim.
"My husband was 52 years old and worked as a nurse," his widow, Busayina, told N12. "He had diabetes and suffered from heart failure. He was an active man, who loved life. He had plans that he never managed to fulfill.
"In the last two years of his life, he suffered a lot and waited for a heart transplant, which was his only option. We were at a wedding when we got the call and they told us 'we have a heart'. We cried and rushed to the hospital.
As in Maxim's case, things went wrong for Raif shortly after.
"They called me in the middle of the night and said 'something has happened', and I ran to the hospital, Busaniya said. "That's when I saw him unconscious and ventilated."
The two families turned to the courts for compensation and the lawsuit was filed by Chaya and David Mana of Mana and Associates law firm.
"This is a severe malpractice of transplanting organs from a donor that died of a flesh-eating bacteria that is impervious to antibiotics without the organs being checked by the hospital before the transplant," Chaya told N12.
According to Chaya, "The flesh-eating bacteria passed over to the recipient - this caused severe lung and blood infections and painful death. Other recipients that received organs from the same donor also died from the same causes. If it weren't for this malpractice, our client would be alive today."
Camille Mawis is representing the Sarhan family. "We are waiting to receive a medical opinion that will decide if the case stems from malpractice on the part of those who were supposed to make sure the donor was tested as required, he told N12. "The recipients died due to a serious infection, and for that, the people responsible need to face justice."
Beilinson did not give N12 a statement, saying that their response will be given as part of the legal proceedings.