Judy Siegel-Itzkovich’s research while affiliated with Jerusalem University College and other places
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Israel’s doctors are finding themselves caught between their ethical obligations as doctors and a government bill likely to become law that would require them to force feed prisoners who go on hunger strikes that endanger their lives. Currently four Palestinian prisoners are refusing to eat solid food, and one has been admitted to hospital in a weak condition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right wing cabinet approved on Sunday 14 June the decision to revive the bill, which was dropped in the previous 19th Knesset (parliament) last year because of strong opposition by the Israel Medical Association. But the government has rushed it through so it can go through the legislative process’s official readings.
The association’s …
Two in five patients aged over 70 who are hospitalised with acute conditions are discharged with reduced functioning compared with when they were admitted, a study has found.Staying in bed, being attached to urinary catheters unnecessarily, taking sleeping pills, and inadequate nutrition are some of the reasons for a decline in function, the researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.1“We wanted to examine why people who come into the hospital on their feet sometimes leave in a wheelchair,” said Anna Zisberg and Efrat Shadmi and colleagues, of the University of Haifa in Israel. “A patient who is admitted for a serious illness, like complications from pneumonia or exacerbation of a heart condition, expects to leave the hospital in a better state than the one he or she entered, but in practice this isn’t always the case.”Previous studies have found that cognition, age, severity of illness, malnutrition, and depression all reduce function after hospitalisation. But the present researchers wanted to identify those risk factors that reduce function but are amenable to change.The study was conducted in cooperation with colleagues at Haifa’s Rambam and Carmel medical centres on 684 patients aged 70 or over who were admitted to internal medicine departments with conditions not associated with loss of functioning. Patients were interviewed on admission, then up to three times during their stay, and two and four weeks after discharge.Researchers found that patients stayed in hospital for an average of 6.2 days, during which time the average calorie intake was 60% of that recommended. Among 37% of patients, calorie intake was less than half the recommended daily amount.When they were discharged 282 patients (41%) reported less functional ability than when they were admitted, and this increased to 317 patients (46%) a month later.Mobility in hospital (standardised maximum likelihood estimate 0.48; P <0.001), continence care (0.12; P <0.001), and length of stay (0.06; P <0.001) were directly related to functional decline at discharge and, together with personal risk factors, explained 64% of variance. Nutrition consumption (0.07; P <0.001) was significantly related to functional decline at one month after discharge and explained, together with other risk factors, 32% of variance.“Lack of mobility leads to reduced muscle mass and is liable to cause older people difficulty in daily functioning and other complications,” said Zisberg. “This study shows for the first time that in addition to the many other risk factors present before and during the hospitalisation itself, mobility is a significant factor, and making sure the patients move around the room and in the ward’s corridors can greatly influence their functioning after hospitalisation.”The researchers recommended that patients in the hospital should stay mobile, even if it requires walking through corridors or around the room. “Sometimes we want to help patients and do things for them,” said Zisberg. “But if we really want to help, it’s best to encourage the patient to be as independent as possible. Moreover, it’s important for the patient to maintain as full and balanced a diet as feasible, to facilitate the body’s optimal recovery processes.”
After nearly 45 years of mandatory fluoridation of tap water throughout Israel, the country’s health minister—a left leaning politician who was formerly mayor of the city of Herzliya—has decided unilaterally to prohibit it. Fluoridation is now mandatory only in Ireland and is optional elsewhere except in the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Holland. Opponents of the minister’s ruling may take the matter to court.
The decision, by Yael German of the Yesh Atid party, amazed experts at Israel’s schools of dentistry and public health because it contravened a year of recommendations and attempts by professionals and the ministry to change German’s mind. But until now they had …
The Israel Medical Association has voiced its strong opposition to a proposed government amendment before the Knesset, which was endorsed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to allow force feeding of prisoners who launch hunger strikes.
Some 190 Palestinian security prisoners, believed by Israeli security authorities to have been involved in terrorist acts against the state, have been in administrative detention instead of being tried in a civilian or military court. Since April, 125 of them have gone on hunger strike, and about 70 have been hospitalised. Their physical conditions have declined as a result of consuming food only from outside prison while refusing meals prepared by the Israel Prison Service. All of the …
The Israeli Medical Association has voiced its strong opposition to a bill being prepared by the country’s justice ministry that, with a court’s permission, would allow force feeding of hunger striking security prisoners.
Leonid Eidelman, the association’s chairman, quoted the World Medical Association’s 1991 Malta Declaration and the statement by Boston University School of Health bioethicist George Annas, published in the New …
Increasing privatisation is changing Israel’s healthcare system “for the worse,” says a health economist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.
The 1994 National Health Insurance Law, which created a generous universal basket of services for Israelis, was meant to promote equity among all socioeconomic levels in the population; and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which Israel joined less than three years ago, has declared its healthcare system to be one of the best among its member countries. But Dov Chernichovsky, whose …
Israel’s health ministry and the association that represents the country’s doctors have issued contradictory statements on whether prisoners who go on hunger strike should be hospitalised by force.
The ethics bureau of the Israel Medical Association declared that people who have been arrested or imprisoned and are holding a hunger strike—and able to voice their preferences—should not be hospitalised against their will. It also said that hunger strikers should not be tied up as a routine matter or forced to receive medical treatment against their will if they …
The expert fertility committee that allowed married couples in Israel to commission a surrogate to have a baby for them 15 years ago has proposed extending the regulations to allow homosexual couples and single people to benefit from similar arrangements.
The 13 member committee, which deliberated over the changes for 18 months, is headed by Shlomo Mor-Yosef, a gynaecologist by training and currently head of the National Insurance Institute, who is a former director general of the Hadassah …
A 12 day hunger strike by the chairman of the Israel Medical Association has broken a four month long stand off between the government and the country’s 20 000 public sector doctors.
Leonid Eidelman abandoned his hunger strike on 3 August after 137 days of intermittent strikes by Israel’s 20 000 public sector doctors, who have demanded better pay and work conditions and extra funds for the country’s overstretched public health service.
Just three days earlier thousands of doctors and medical students had gathered in Jerusalem’s Rose Garden opposite the Knesset (parliament), in support of Dr Eidelman, who resumed eating when the Ministry of Finance signalled that it was prepared to make major concessions.
But Dr Eidelman’s fast, which began with a four day …
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) has passed a private member’s bill allowing adult cyclists to ride without helmets after pressure from companies that have started bicycle rental schemes in Israel’s main cities and from cyclists who dislike wearing helmets. Israeli children and teenagers, however, will have to continue to wear them on bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and roller skates in urban areas. The law making helmets compulsory was passed four years ago. Language: en
Citations (25)
... This suspicion gave rise as a result of series of woefully inconsistent findings of previous studies with the present one across the globe. For instance, investigators who conducted similar studies in the United States, as well as in various countries in Europe and Asia (Cook & Bellis, 2001;Knight, Kirinchich, Farmer, & Hood,, 2002;Maswanya, Moji, & Takemoto, 1999;Patricka, Covin, Fulop, Calfas, & Lovato, 2009;Piko, 2002;Schmidt, Krasnik, Brendstrup, Zoffmann, & Larsen, 1989;Siegel-Itzkovich, 2002;Nies, Artinian, Stephanie, Wal, Sherrick-Escamilla, 2004;Takakura, Nagayama, Sakihara, & Craig, 2001) demonstrated that, in general, students were involved in risk taking behaviours and as a result were liable to encounter unprecedented personal health in the present and in the future. ...
... In addition, Community water fluoridation was the main prevention policy of the Israeli Ministry of Health for many years. In recent years, there have been some changes in this policy in Israel [7], and in 2014 the policy was changed, and community water fluoridation was stopped [4]. In 2016 the Ministry of Health had reapproved regulations and renewal of water fluoridation policy, but, due to procedural and technical issues, water fluoridation is still not renewed. ...
... The present and progressive physician shortage in Israel has been a top national priority for its MOH. As seen in other countries, overworked, understaffed health professionals contribute to increases in errors and decreased quality of health services [23,24]. ...
... 7 Since 2013 Tel Aviv, Israel's biggest metropolis, has witnessed an alarming rise in media reports regarding the number and severity of E-bike related injuries, both in riders and in pedestrians. 8 We have previously described E-bike related injuries in children, 7 but the literature on E-bike related injuries remains sparse. Furthermore, the differences between E-bike and manual bicycle related injuries in children have not yet been investigated. ...
... In most democratic societies, strikes are a legitimate part of collective bargaining during labour negotiations [2][3][4]. Doctor and HCW strikes have been reported in highly developed countries such as USA [2,[5][6][7], UK [8]; New Zealand [9][10][11], Germany and France [2,12]; middle income countries such as Israel [13,14], India [15], Czech Republic [16], and South Africa [17][18][19]. Also in less developed countries such as Nigeria [20][21][22], Malawi [23] and Zambia [24] to name but a few. ...
... Australia has a workforce shortage of general practitioners (GPs), particularly in rural and regional areas [1,2]. This phenomenon is reflected globally, in countries including England, Canada, USA, India, Israel and South Africa [3][4][5][6][7][8]. As GPs are responsible for providing primary care services [9], any deficit in their numbers has a significant potential impact on access to basic medical services and follow-up care [10]. ...
... Soldiers in Iraq for the Gulf War were inoculated with Mycoplasma incognitus and exposed to a variety of chemical agents, radiation, and drugs that left 100 000 US American and 6000 British troops with sequelae (tiredness, neurologic disorders, loss of memory, malformations in offspring, etc). 57---59 Suspicions have been voiced, or accusations made, about possible medical experiments in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, 60 in Israel, 61 and in several countries of the Third World. ...
... 44 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women, who wear head cover, for religious reasons are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis. 45 Moreover, studies in sunny countries, where people may be covered up for religious or cultural reasons, found that 30-50% of adults and children were vitamin Ddeficient. 46,47 Studies in the UK have shown low vitamin D levels in Asian women particularly among those who cover most of their skin for 'cultural reasons'. ...
... Already in the 1980s hospital clowns have been introduced into hospital settings, in order to support processes before the initiation of invasive interventions (Adams, 2002;Dionigi, 2017;Lopes-Júnior et al., 2020). In the hospital setting, the trained clowns are integrated into the medical team (Siegel-Itzkovich, 2002) and balance professionalism and creativeness in their individual interactions with patients (Simonds, 1999). Clowns aim to distract children from the anxiety-provoking and painful procedure by playing, acting and talking with the child and thus building a humorous interaction with the patient (Dionigi, 2017). ...
... There is now a very considerable body of evidence to support the observation that moderate consumption of alcoholic drinks is associated with lower death rates than is complete abstinence 29 . The biggest effect is due to a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease. ...