Last update - 00:00 09/03/2007
Doctor's license suspended for taking women's ova without consent
By Ran Reznik, Haaretz Correspondent
A judge revoked the medical license of Prof. Zion Ben-Rafael for two and a half years on Thursday, after the gynecologist was convicted of removing ova from women without their consent.
The former head of the gynecology and obstetrics division at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva had been convicted by the Health Ministry's disciplinary tribunal for violating patients' rights and inappropriate conduct for a doctor.
The affair was exposed some seven years ago. Ben-Rafael had taken scores of ova from six women in his private care, contrary to his agreement with them and to his duty to tell them how many ova he took.
The punishment was meted out by retired judge Vardi Zeiler, who has been authorized to penalize doctors in the name of the health ministry.
Following the affair Ben-Rafael's work at the Rabin Medical Center and Clalit Health Maintenance Organization was terminated and he has practiced only private medicine.
Ben-Rafael's admission and conviction were part of a plea bargain he reached with the State Prosecutor in 2006, by which he admitted all the disciplinary charges against him, and the criminal indictment against him was revoked.