Six employees of geriatric hospital suspected of conducting illegal experiments on elderly patients.
By JPOST.COM STAFFelderly old man cane 248 88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The state prosecution has informed six doctors from the Kaplan Medical Center's Harzfeld Geriatric Hospital that it intends to indict them, pending a hearing, for allegedly carrying out illegal medical experiments on elderly patients.
Charges could include abuse of helpless victims, assault under aggravated circumstances, causing death through negligence, fraud, forgery, and obstruction of an investigation.
The case was first publicized in 2006 when it was revealed that a number of doctors at the hospital were suspected of conducting experiments on elderly patients - often suffering from degenerative dementia - who were hospitalized at the facility.
Police said that the experiments, some of which allegedly involved invasive procedures, recurrent blood drawing and the administering of psychotropic medications, were carried out illegally and without notifying or obtaining the permission of the patients' families.
According to suspicion, at least one elderly woman died as a result of the experiments, which were allegedly conducted between 2000 and 2003.
Rebecca Anna Stoil and Judy Siegel contributed to this report.
