Cleveland Clinic fires resident after online threat to give Jews 'wrong meds' surfaces
A Cleveland hospital has fired a resident after anti-Semitic comments and threats to give the Jewish people 'the wrong meds' surfaced on social media.
Anti-Semitism should not be tolerated in any setting – least of all in an environment where medical personnel take a pledge to provide care and comfort to patients. But that’s exactly what’s at the center of a controversial case unfolding in Ohio.
Physician Lara Kollab, a first-year resident at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, took part in social media rants that included anti-Semitic hate speech and dangerous threats. In her tweets, Kollab referred to Jewish people as dogs, downplayed the Holocaust, and said she was “brutally unsympathetic” about it. She said “Allah will kill the Jews” and threatened to “purposely give all the (derogatory term for Jews) the wrong meds.”
This behavior is abhorrent and dangerous.
Should a doctor who makes threats about giving Jews the wrong medication with the intent to cause harm be entitled to practice medicine? The answer is no. The medical license should be permanently revoked. Threats to cause harm must never be tolerated in any setting, including the medical field.
Kollab de-activated or deleted all of her social media accounts after her tweets went viral. The Cleveland Clinic quickly came forward with a statement denouncing the resident’s racist comments and assuring the public she was no longer in its employ: “She is no longer working at Cleveland Clinic. In no way do these beliefs reflect those of our organization. We fully embrace diversity, inclusion and a culture of safety and respect across our entire health system.”
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This case illustrates what can only be described as a darker, sicker problem of rampant racism and anti-Jewish sentiment spreading across America and around the world, including at the United Nations.
We’re pleased to see the Cleveland Clinic take decisive action. Now, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) which I am affiliated with, along with the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA – the oldest pro-Israel organization in the U.S.), is working to ensure that Kollab never practices medicine again.
The ACLJ is filing a formal complaint – in conjunction with the ZOA – with the Ohio State Board of Medical Examiners noting that Kollab’s “statements and intentions go far beyond the realms of free speech. Allowing her near any patients could literally jeopardize lives. Dr. Kollab is obviously unfit to practice medicine.”
The ACLJ is urging Ohio officials to revoke her license: “While it is true that Dr. Kollab’s temporary license limits her to practicing medicine at the Clinic and is therefore practically useless for the moment, the purpose of this letter is to officially ask the Board to revoke her medical license permanently, so that no other clinic or medical practice in Ohio might inadvertently hire her, and no other patients might be put at risk.”
At the same time, the ACLJ notes that anti-Semitism often is a catalyst for violence:
“Antisemitic threats can quickly turn into violent acts that jeopardize the safety of innocent people. It is important to note that according to a report last year by the FBI, the majority of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States were committed against Jewish people – and this despite Jews making up less than 2 percent of the population. In fact, since the FBI began reporting these statistics in 1993, there has not been a single year in which Jewish people were not the victims of the majority of religiously motivated hate crimes. Threats of physical harm made because a doctor abhors Jews need to be taken very seriously.
"No patient should ever have to seek medical help in a facility that employs a doctor who is so full of hatred in her heart necessary to commit violence upon another person. The trust between a patient and a medical professional is so essential that any suggestion of violence should be investigated thoroughly and dealt with promptly. In Dr. Kollab’s case the actual written statements speak for themselves.”
The ACLJ is also launching a national petition to urge officials in Ohio to permanently revoke Kollab’s medical license.
This case illustrates what can only be described as a darker, sicker problem of rampant racism and anti-Jewish sentiment spreading across America and around the world, including at the United Nations.
It is not surprising that anti-Semites like Kollab think they can threaten Jewish people with impunity, when the U.N. is funding an anti-Israel slush fund, and refused to condemn terrorist attacks on Israel. Further, Kollab is a proud supporter of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, further exposing BDS for what it is – thinly veiled anti-Semitism.
We don’t need physicians with such a flippant attitude towards endangering lives – simply because of one’s faith or ethnicity – practicing medicine in the United States.
Anti-Semitism has no place anywhere in society and certainly cannot be allowed to fester in a professional medical setting.
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