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Kaplan Medical Center faces allegation over patients’ blood samples

Israel National News reported that Kaplan Medical Center management filed a complaint alleging its cardiology director collected patients’ blood samples for research without informed consent. The outlet also described a separate allegation that cardiology residents skipped an internal medicine training stage and that records showed the stage had been completed.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 2 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 1 of 2 outletsHow it's made

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2 outletsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Too few ratedL 0 · C 0 · R 2

What happened

Key facts

  • Israel National News reported that Kaplan Medical Center management submitted a complaint concerning the alleged collection of blood samples without informed consent (per israelnationalnews.com).
  • Israel National News said the alleged blood-sample collection was for research purposes (per israelnationalnews.com).
  • Israel National News reported a separate allegation that cardiology residents skipped the internal medicine stage of their residency under Prof. Kobi George’s direction and supervision (per israelnationalnews.com).

The brief

Kaplan Medical Center management filed a complaint alleging that the hospital’s Director of Cardiology, Prof. Kobi George, collected patients’ blood samples for research without their informed consent, Israel National News reported.

The outlet identified the hospital as being in Rehovot and described the alleged collection as a matter under suspicion, not an established finding. The report says the complaint concerns samples taken from patients without informed consent. It does not provide a number of patients or samples, identify research projects, or describe a response from Prof. George or the hospital.

The allegation is specifically about use of samples for research; no further details of their collection or handling are given. Israel National News also described a separate residency-training matter involving cardiology residents. According to the outlet, residents skipped the internal medicine stage of their residency under Prof. George’s direction and supervision.

The article says this practice had continued “for years,” but does not specify a start date or give the number of residents involved. The outlet reported that residency logs recorded internal medicine training as completed even though, according to its account, the training had not occurred.

It also said the head of the internal medicine department signed documents described in the report as fictitious. These details concern the residency allegations and are distinct from the complaint about patients’ blood samples. Israel National News said people involved in the residency matter were summoned for questioning, including the department head.

The account does not state whether Prof. George was among those summoned, what any person said in questioning, or whether investigators made findings. It also does not report a result or resolution of the complaint about the samples.

The Jerusalem Post’s headline independently states that Israeli patients’ blood samples were allegedly taken for research without consent and attributes the matter to the hospital. Its headline does not provide further details about the complaint, the people involved, or any investigation.

The account described here therefore remains an allegation reported by Israel National News, alongside its separate account of the residency-training issue.

Why it matters

  • Patients are the directly affected population: the complaint alleges their blood samples were used for research without informed consent.
  • The alleged mechanism is the collection of patient samples for research without consent; the report gives no count of patients or samples.
  • The report links the complaint to Kaplan Medical Center’s Director of Cardiology, while separately describing allegations about cardiology residency training and records.

What to watch next

  • Whether Kaplan Medical Center management or Prof. Kobi George publicly addresses the complaint about blood samples.
  • Whether investigators announce findings concerning the alleged use of patient samples for research without informed consent.
  • Whether the questioning of people involved in the residency matter leads to a stated decision or further action.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
2 source articles · 2 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Too few rated· 2 Right
Where the outlets are based: Middle East 100%
Outlet political mix
Too few rated
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
0 outlets
2 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
2 unique outletsDominant coverage: Middle East
Limited coverage
  • Coverage is currently limited to 2 outlets.
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

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Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. The Nuremberg Code, formulated in 1947 after the Doctors’ Trial at Nuremberg, had earlier placed voluntary consent at the center of rules for human experimentation.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. Kaplan Medical Center, in Rehovot, opened in 1953 and became one of Israel’s general hospitals, providing the institutional setting for both clinical care and postgraduate medical training.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. The World Medical Association adopted the Declaration of Helsinki on medical research involving human subjects.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. Israel enacted the Public Health Regulations (Clinical Trials in Human Subjects).
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  5. Israel’s immediate institutional backdrop for research involving patients is the Patients’ Rights Law, enacted in 1996.
    Background · from our historical context
  6. The World Medical Association revised the Declaration of Helsinki at its meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

Israel’s immediate institutional backdrop for research involving patients is the Patients’ Rights Law, enacted in 1996. Section 13 establishes informed consent as the general rule for medical treatment, while the law also sets duties concerning patients’ medical information.

Israel’s rules for clinical trials in human subjects are set out in the Public Health Regulations (Clinical Trials in Human Subjects), 1980; research proposals are reviewed through institutional Helsinki committees under Ministry of Health oversight.

Original sources

2 articles from 2 outlets

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