Police are investigating another case of suspected medical malpractice involving Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot and Hartzfeld Geriatric Hospital in Gedera. The two medical centers are alleged to have collaborated in illegal experiments carried out on 870 elderly patients during the period 2001-2004.

Police believe that the experiments, for which no approvals were given, were performed on patients who had undergone orthopedic surgery at Kaplan and were then admitted to Hartzfeld. According to the suspicions, two-thirds of the patients involved in the experiments were given abnormally high dosages of blood-thinning medication (Coumadin), and at least three of them died as a result, without there being any report or inquiry into the matter, as required by law.

Police are also looking into suspicions that at least 50 of the patients who were involved in the experiment suffered severe circulatory-system problems as a result, including acute blood insufficieny and serious cardiac difficulties.

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The police investigation into the affair is part of a wider inquiry that has been underway at the National Fraud Squad over the past few months into suspicions that dozens of illegal and unethical experiments were performed on thousands of elderly patients at Kaplan and Hartzfeld, which are under a single management, headed by Dr. Yosef Bar-El.

Haaretz has learned that the blood-thinning experiment currently under investigation was initially reviewed by a Health Ministry panel led by Prof. Jacques Michel, who filed a scathing report on the matter to the ministry's management in July.

According to the panel's report, the experiment was performed illegally and contrary to the directives of both the Health Ministry and the Clalit health maintenance organization, which owns the two hospitals: The doctors failed to seek or receive approval for the experiment from the Helsinki Committee; they failed to seek or receive the consent of the patients involved in the experiments; and they failed to report, as required by law, on anomalies encountered during the experiment and on incidents of mortality.

The report names Dr. Shmuel Levy, former director of Hartzfeld, and Dr. Nadia Kagansky, his deputy, as the chief culprits in the affair.

Police involved in the current investigation are reviewing the medical files of numerous patients involved in the experiment. One case involves A.S., an 82-year-old woman who was admitted to Hartzfeld in April 2002 and was allegedly given a high dose of Coumadin. Despite subsequent blood-clotting tests that returned very dangerous readings, A.S. was given the medication again. Two weeks after being admitted to Hartzfeld, A.S. suffered massive internal bleeding and was taken to Kaplan's intensive care unit, where she died.

Another case involves D.B., a 77-year-old man who was admitted to Hartzfeld in May 2002 for the treatment of an acute liver disorder. D.B. was given high doses of Coumadin over a period of two days; he died a few days later, presumably from inhalation of blood into his lungs.

The Health Ministry panel report filed in July also mentions, among others, another experiment involving blood-thinning medication that was allegedly conducted by Levy and Kagansky. This experiment, the report says, included 323 patients, 98 of whom died as a result of the tests carried out on them.

"The issue is under police investigation, and we believe that the police will get to the truth, and we are cooperating with them," a statement from Kaplan-Hartzfeld said yesterday.

Attorney Ofer Doron, who is representing Dr. Levy, said that his client "denies the claims made regarding the use of the medication."

According to attorney Doron, "We are dealing with the accepted, necessary and correct treatment, administered in the standard and permissible doses. As is the case with numerous medications, Coumadin can also be administered in various doses, all of which are considered acceptable and permissible alternatives.

"Hence, it is not true to say that the treatment endangered the lives of the patients, and it is not true to say that the treatment caused the death of patients or put them at risk."