Report: E. J'lem hospital held newborn triplet as 'deposit'

[Behind the Aegis]

Moqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem allegedly refused to release a baby to its mother for two months until she paid her hospital bill.

After the Justice Ministry's legal aid department intervened last week upon the mother's request, the Health Ministry ordered the baby released to her. The ministry now is looking into whether the hospital can be prosecuted for false imprisonment, and whether it should assist the mother in suing the hospital for damages.

The woman gave birth prematurely to triplets at Moqassed two months ago, and the babies needed extensive hospitalization. But due to the hospital's concern that the National Insurance Institute (NII) would not cover the costs, since the babies' father is a resident of the Palestinian Authority, the hospital allegedly decided to release only two of the babies, keeping the third as a "guarantee."

The mother left with the two babies, and a week ago she and her father approached the Justice Ministry. "We looked into the matter with the hospital," the Justice Ministry's head of legal aid, Eyal Globus, said. "And it turned out that things were exactly as the mother said they were; the third baby was being held there." It was also determined that there was no medical need to keep the baby hospitalized.

more...

[AlienGirl]

1. In the US, there has been "body attachment"

People have been jailed for unpaid hospital bills.

Hospitals in several states have actually had patients arrested and jailed if they are unable to pay their debts. This legal tactic is chillingly known as body attachment.

"Body attachment is basically a warrant for arrest," says Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care Consumers in Illinois. She says that if a patient misses a court date, that they may not even know they have, the attorneys for the hospitals or collection agencies can ask the judge to issue a warrant for the patient's arrest.

"They can go out immediately and find that person or it can just kind of be out there and then if the person gets pulled over, for example, for having a taillight out or speeding or something, it pops up, and then shows a warrant for arrest and the person gets brought in, and then they get incarcerated," says Lennhoff.

Source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0108-07.htm

Tucker

[progressivebydesign]

3. my god.. how could you be arrested for a civil case?

That's ridiculous.. and chilling.

[Divernan]

5. Arab baby & unpaid Israeli nurses? Scenario for minimum attention at best

Granted that most nurses are overworked and hospitals are understaffed. There's not enough time to take proper care of all the patients, so who do you think would get neglected? In a graduate study I did at a highly ranked U.S. private hospital, we found that patients whose families never visited got a lower level of care than patients whose families were likely to pop in and vist. Those patients were also put in the room farthest from the nurses' station, which made it easier to ignore them. And in that case, you didn't have a history of hatred between the race of the patient and the race of the caregivers. I'm glad the baby survived to be rescued.

[msanthrope]

13. Anti-Semitic Crap. Arab Baby--Arab Hospital. Look it up.

I understand that some may wish to, for their own purposes, claim that this was an Arab Israeli Baby being abused by Jews, but Moqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem is completely Arab run.

This wasn't a case of:

"a history of hatred between the race of the patient and the race of the caregivers."

This was a case of "doing it to your own."

In the future, you might wish to note that "East Jerusalem" has a meaning that has escaped you.



"The two most advanced Palestinian hospitals are both located in East Jerusalem. Al-Moqassed Hospital provides advanced care for premature infants, surgery, pediatric orthopedics, intensive care and coronary units. Augusta Victoria is the primary hospital serving the 400,000 refugees in the West Bank."

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:jQ7HAB6f4ZUJ:www.bezelem.org/English/Publications/Full_Text/Injustice_in_the_Holy_City/30932.asp+Moqassed+Hospital+in+East+Jerusalem+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9

[patcox2]

10. Capias ad respondam, body attachment, is very limited.

It is only appropriate in cases of deliberate and willful failure to pay a judgment and where there is a risk of flight.

It may have been abused, but it would certainly be held unconstitutional as applied to an indigent person truly unable to pay.

[yurbud]

11. isn't that a step back toward slavery?

[silverweb]

19. More like a step back to debtor's prisons.

I'm sure the stockholders of our privatized prison industry are giddy with glee at the prospect.

:grr:

[Dunvegan]

2. Yikes! My only surprise is that this hasn't happened with a US HMO first.

She probably can't, but I feel that the mother should be able to sue due to alienation of bonding.

Really, she should be able to sue for kidnapping.

Can't be good for the infant's psyche to be away from thier loving family in those early and formative months.

And I'll bet the bill for triplets is higher by about x3 than a single birth...but keeping one in the hospital for so long must have cost the hospital a fortune. Brilliant.

Where are all the workhouses? :sarcasm:

[laheina]

4. A baby needs to bond with its mother.

By keeping it away from her and not allowing them to bond for an extended period of time, they may have done psychological harm to either one of them.

The mother could have gotten "bonding blues" from delayed bonding, and I can only imagine the guilt that she must have felt.

Meanwhile, the infant is not getting antibodies from his mother. Research also suggests that their later relationship could suffer. And that is after a separation of a week!

[FooFootheSnoo]

6. not only does the baby need it's mother,

it needs it siblings too. Studies have shown that preemie twins and triplets do better if they are kept in the same bed. What an awful thing to do to a new mother and baby.

[laheina]

17. I was thinking about that too.

They were smooshed up against each other for the beginning of awareness. That must make the change of environment even more traumatic.

[bobthedrummer]

8. John Bowlby's work on attachment and separation used in a "creative"

way.

Now, despite some concerns, Israel has imported the Wisconsin Works (W2) plan that "helps" poor people. This was promoted and championed by RW eugenicists.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=404308

[Ilsa]

7. Damned Pricks. More terrorism. I think there is a special place

in hell for anyone who authorizes such a thing.

Better be careful with this idea. Where I live, the county hospital could easily turn into a foundling hospital/home.

[msanthrope]

14. You are correct. I wish Palestinans would stop terrorizing

other Palestinians.

Palestinian/Arab controlled hospital. Child has an Arab Israeli mother, and a Palestinian father. Soory, no Jews to blame, here.


"The two most advanced Palestinian hospitals are both located in East Jerusalem. Al-Moqassed Hospital provides advanced care for premature infants, surgery, pediatric orthopedics, intensive care and coronary units. Augusta Victoria is the primary hospital serving the 400,000 refugees in the West Bank.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:jQ7HAB6f4ZUJ:www.bezelem.org/English/Publications/Full_Text/Injustice_in_the_Holy_City/30932.asp+Moqassed+Hospital+in+East+Jerusalem+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9

[Ilsa]

16. I wasn't even looking at who is palestinian and who else is or isn't.

Just the whole concept of keeping a baby like that tears my insides out.

[laheina]

18. This is a hospital, mother, and child.

Thank you for trying to turn it into a divisive racial issue. :eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

25. They're doing a half-assed job implicating Palestinian culture...

...and it really (Olberman face) shows.

;-)

PB

[laheina]

26. No culture needs to be implicated, except

for that of inhumanity, greed, and corporatism. And I think that we have that one cornered.

If they were implicating anyone, it must have passed everyone on this thread by, because I only saw one person that made a post that could be even half-way interpreted that way. *Except* for the people that are so worried about it needing to be the Palestinians fault, this thread was focused on the mother and child, where it belongs.

[MountainLaurel]

9. OMFG

:wow:

How long before we see that here?

[msanthrope]

15. Palestinian-controlled hospital.

FYI--guys--you might want to talk to someone in Israel about what "East Jerusalem" means.



The two most advanced Palestinian hospitals are both located in East Jerusalem. Al-Moqassed Hospital provides advanced care for premature infants, surgery, pediatric orthopedics, intensive care and coronary units. Augusta Victoria is the primary hospital serving the 400,000 refugees in the West Bank.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:jQ7HAB6f4ZUJ:www.bezelem.org/English/Publications/Full_Text/Injustice_in_the_Holy_City/30932.asp+Moqassed+Hospital+in+East+Jerusalem+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9

[Pastiche423]

20. What? You think we din't read your post the1st time?

Quit spamming!

This thread is about a mother and her infant that was kept from her due to $$$!

[MountainLaurel]

22. Did I say anything about who was in charge?

NO! My concern was solely for this infant and the mother and siblings from whom she was ripped for TWO MONTHS.

:eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

23. You can officially stop trying to make this thread something it ain't.

It's about greed. It's about disgusting business practices. But what it's not about is Palestine or the Palestinian people as a whole. Your attempt to inject politics into this is as blatant as it is repugnant.

Got that?

Grrrrrreat!

PB

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. Go away. Go stir someone else's pot.

[WindRavenX]

12. wow

Barbaric and inhumane :(

[SoCalDem]

21. So.. they got "pick of the litter"

bastards..

I hope they pay a big judgement..

[TheBaldyMan]

24. this can't be true

sounds too extreme to be a real hospital.

If you believe everything you hear , my country is being overrun with gyspy 'health-tourists'

on edit: after reading the article it seems that Israel is a very fucked up place.