Jailed terrorist demands transplant

Convicted killer petitions court for state-funded $100,000 kidney procedure.

By DAN IZENBERG
transplant doctors 88 (photo credit: )
transplant doctors 88
(photo credit: )
The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) organization is demanding that the Prisons Service pay the $100,000 cost of a kidney transplant for a Palestinian terrorist serving a life sentence. PHR filed the petition in Tel Aviv District Court for Administrative Affairs in September on behalf of Ahmed al-Tamimi, 44, from Ramallah, who was convicted, together with others, of killing and burning the body of Haim Mizrahi near Beit El in September 1993. Three days ago PHR asked the presiding judge, Noga Ohad, to disqualify herself because during a hearing on December 28 she allegedly indicated that she believed there should be a connection between the nature of Tamimi's crime and his right to receive a kidney transplant from the state. Meanwhile, Dr. Alex Adler, the chief medical officer of the Prisons Service, confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that Tamimi was suffering from kidney failure, but doctors believed the treatment of choice for him at this time was dialysis, not a transplant. However, Adler said Tamimi was being examined by senior doctors at The Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva and Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, and if they recommended that he should have a transplant immediately, the Prisons Service would provide it free of charge. According to attorney Johanna Lehrman, who is representing PHR and Tamimi in the petition, Adler told her in August that if Tamimi wanted a kidney transplant, he would have to pay for it out of his own pocket. Tamimi's nephew is prepared to donate a kidney to his uncle. In her petition, Lehrman wrote that a Prisons Service order regarding security prisoners states that "the orders for regular prisoners will apply [to security prisoners] regarding all matters not expressly mentioned in this order." Furthermore, wrote Lehrman, the special Prisons Service order on health issues specifically states that the health orders applying to regular prisoners also apply to security prisoners. The health order itself stipulates that prisoners will be entitled to all the basic medical services provided by Clalit Health Services, that is, the entire basket of health services approved by the government. The basket includes kidney transplants. Thus, according to Lehrman, Tamimi is entitled to a state-paid kidney transplant. During the December hearing on the petition, Ohad said, "The petitioner is a security prisoner who came to violate the sanctity of life... The key question here is whether a person who comes to harm or kill us is eligible for funding for the transplant treatment." However, Adler himself did not make this argument. He told the Post that the Prisons Service was obligated to provide proper medical service for all prisoners regardless of their crimes. The only question was a medical one - that is, what was the proper treatment for Tamimi at this time. As long as dialysis was the proper treatment, the Prisons Service would not provide any other.