Cardiologist Vladimir Yakirevich, who is serving a six-year prison sentence, recently requested a pardon for personal, health and family reasons.

Yakirevich, former director of the cardiac surgery department at Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital, was convicted in January 2004 of killing two 80-year-old patients, committing several acts of negligence, taking bribes and extorting a patient's family.

Yakirevich was convicted of disconnecting one post-surgery patient in his care from a machine attached to her heart, and of instructing his interns not to resuscitate another.

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He was also convicted of abandoning six patients in serious condition in the middle of surgery performed by interns and leaving the hospital.

In addition to receiving bribes from the families of five patients, Yakirevich was convicted of stealing thousands of dollars donated by a patient's family. He spent some of the money on a trip for his ward's team and pocketed the remainder.

The affair was first published in a series of exposes in the weekly newspaper, Ha'Ir, and Haaretz in 1995. This triggered a Health Ministry and police probe. After his conviction, the ministry revoked Yakirevich's medical license and he was expelled from the Israel Medical Association.

In April of this year, after hearing Yakirevich's appeal, the Supreme Court upheld most of the convictions, but acquitted him of three charges of recklessness and negligence - one of them due to doubt. The court ruled that Yakirevich had been "intoxicated with power, arrogance and unlimited greed."

The court reduced Yakirevich's sentence by one year in view of the acquittal of some of the charges and his son's suicide.

In May, Yakirevich filed a pardon request to the president and justice ministry effective immediately due to his health - a malignant tumor he suffered from in 1994, requiring constant medical supervision. He also cited his wife's medical condition and the suicide of his son, who was 39 at his death and a father of four.

Yakirevich's attorneys wrote in the pardon request that his release would "relieve the suffering and coping" of his late son's children.

The request said Yakirevich had "dedicated his life to saving thousands of people ... admitted to his ward all those who came to him, including patients turned down by other hospitals, and performed difficult and heroic operations on thousands of patients 'round the clock.'"

The Supreme Court ruled that while Yakirevich was indisputably a respected and excellent doctor who helped many patients, "the evidence exposed another facet of his life ... This is a doctor who killed two patients with his own hands ... How is it possible that a doctor, who is entrusted to save his patients' lives, causes their death?"

The court ruled that Yakirevich was indifferent to the consequences of his acts. "His conduct over a long period of time was in abominable contrast to a doctor's duties. He abused his power and authorities as doctor, surgeon and ward director. He killed two of his patients, was negligent in several operations, extorted money from a patient's family and took bribes from patients' families. A doctor who does that deserves a harsh, deterrent penalty," the verdict said.