An indictment was filed on Sunday against the owner of a restaurant in Rosh Pina, for negligently causing the death of Osher Deri, 22, about three years ago as a result of a milk allergy attack, Reshet Bet Radio reported Monday morning. The indictment states that the owner of the restaurant “violated his duty of caution, did not establish control procedures regarding food, and created an unreasonable risk to Osher’s life.”
The state prosecution decided in early June to indict the owner of the restaurant and two kitchen workers subject to a hearing for the death of Osher Deri, who ate a dairy dessert in the kosher meat restaurant three years ago. One of the indicted employees is a 17-year-old who purchased dairy whipped cream for the desserts served by the establishment. The minor, a waiter at the restaurant, was sent out to the supermarket to buy whipped cream when the non-dairy whipped cream had run out.
Osher’s father told Reshet Bet, “Nothing will bring my beloved daughter back to life. However, the indictment filed against the restaurant owner highlights the criminal negligence, because of which my daughter ate a dairy dessert in a kosher meat restaurant – and paid for it with her life. I hope that the court will punish the accused severely.”
According to the report, in her last phone call with her mother, Osher said: “I don’t feel well, I’m going to die,” adding, “Ella and I ate happily, we ordered dessert and the dessert was dairy.” Her surprise mother cried: “How could it be a dairy dessert? It’s a kosher restaurant, what are you talking about?”
HOSPITAL AND HMO FAILURES
Osher reached Ziv Hospital in Tsfat on her own, and the Health Ministry’s report shows failures on the part of the hospital and Osher’s Leumit HMO. The report focuses on two issues: the lack of follow-up on Osher Deri’s allergy, which resulted from poor health services in her area of residence, and her treatment after the incident.
“At the age of 10, Deri moved to the Leumit HMO and from then until the day of her death, for about 12 years, she was not followed up by an allergy clinic. The HMO on principle decided not to offer subscribers allergy clinics in the north. Also, there is no arrangement with any other HMO for referrals to an allergy clinic in the community.”
Osher’s mother, Galit Deri told Ynet, “When I wanted to make an appointment for allergy treatment so that Osher could start the treatment process, I was told that I was on a waiting list which is years long. This is our reality, the residents of the North.”
According to the report, “In the area hospitals, including the Ziv Hospital where Deri died, there is no doctor specializing in allergies.”
The report is sharply critical of Ziv Hospital regarding Osher’s treatment. It shows that the doctor who treated Osher, a graduate of a medical school in Romania, was an intern with only two months’ experience in the emergency room. The senior doctor left the hospital following the shift change close to her arrival, and the unsupervised intern’s lack of experience led him to make wrong decisions.
According to the report, “From the moment of exposure to dairy until the death of the late Osher, she did not receive the initial treatment that is recommended for saving lives in an allergic reaction – administration of adrenaline to the muscle. Instead, she received intravenous adrenaline in the emergency room – treatment which is not recommended.”
The report also noted that “the staff in the emergency room was not knowledgeable in treating a life-threatening allergic reaction.”
Another amazing finding that emerged from the report is that no allergy expert was present at the post-mortem meeting convened by the hospital’s director Prof. Salman Zarka, famous for his role as Israel’s COVID Czar.
“The lessons learned meeting did not include an allergy expert, and therefore significant lessons regarding the medical treatment of the incident were missed,” the report says.
The Leumit HMO responded: “After the tragic event, we actively labored to locate the patients with life-threatening allergy conditions. After that, we will check which of them are not under allergy monitoring and proactively contact them to connect them to allergy clinics. Nevertheless, we are aware of the shortage of allergy doctors, especially in the north, and the difficulty in providing allergological service in the north.”
God help allergic folks in the north, although now that 60,000 of them have been evacuated to central Israel, they may finally find the medical help they deserve.
Ziv Hospital responded: “The medical center regrets the death of the late Osher Deri. She was sensitive to milk and known to the hospital from a similar incident that happened in the past – where she was exposed to milk and did not have the life-saving syringe with her. At that time, she arrived on time and received life-saving treatment. In this case, she did not use an auto-injector, and an ambulance was not called – which would have changed the tragic outcome. The case was investigated at Ziv, and the security cameras show the speed with which the late Osher was treated, according to protocol. There is indeed no allergist at Ziv, but this did not affect the treatment provided.”
Speechless? You’re not alone.
