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marry another man, and even if the rumor turns out to be sician who is licensed to practice is halachically considered salaried by
false. Said Rav Nachman, this applies if he told her at the the inhabitants of the city, even if he is self-employed.
time of the divorce that it is because of her bad reputation Therefore, in our case, where the physician killed the patient di-
that he is divorcing her, because the basis of the above rectly, we take into account the differing opinions of the above poskim,
decree was because of “kilkula,” which Rashi explains as and therefore there is a doubt about the halachah. If the patient died
being that her former husband not ruin her for her second because of the strain and pressure, and the dentist could not calm
husband by saying, “Had I known that the rumors were him down, it possible that we do not consider the physician to have
false I would never have divorced you, even for 100 maneh killed him. This resembles one who angers his fellow, who is exempt
of money! As I told you at the time of the divorce, it was in a human court but held accountable by the laws of the Heavenly
only because of those rumors that I divorced you. At the Court. (Bava Kamma, 56a)
time, I had in mind to remarry you if the rumors turned In practice, where there is a doubt about the law, one should not
out to be false.” As a result of this the divorce becomes null fine him. Nevertheless, this may apply only if the physician is general-
and void and the children born from her second husband ly reliable and diligent, but happened to have made a one-time error.
are mamzerim. Therefore, we tell him before the divorce: On the other hand, if in general his work is of low quality, and he
Know that you can never take her back! Afterwards, he is treats his profession lightly, one can certainly fire him, and possibly
not to be believed if he claims he wants her back, since he even fine him and revoke his license, certainly until he repents.
knew that it was prohibited for him to take her back, even A physician once caused the death of a young girl. She arrived at a
if she did not marry again in the interim, and despite this private hospital in order to undergo plastic surgery on her nose and
knowledge, he did not take the time to check if the rumors chin, but she died. Her death was caused by a series of mistakes,
were true. This reveals that she was not beloved to him. beginning with her receiving a mixture of tranquilizers in high dose
So we see that if a man divorces his wife because of a to calm her during the night before the surgery. Later, they gave her
bad reputation and does not bother to investigate if the additional medications that made her lose consciousness. When the
rumors are correct, he reveals that she is not beloved to girl was taken out of the operating room she had no reflexes. The
him. So, too, in our case, if he did not bother to investigate physician did not notice this and therefore transferred her to a regu-
whether the physician’s diagnosis was completely accurate, lar room rather than to the recovery room. For two hours, between
he showed that his wife was not beloved to him and the six and eight in the morning, the girl emitted intermittent wheezing
divorce is valid. sounds. Even when other patients pointed this out, the physician was
not alerted until the young girl had died. The physician was punished
3. The Divrei Malkiel’s response to the above was that, in our with six months in prison. When they told him about this, he an-
case, he could not have imagined that his wife would bribe the swered: I am considering appealing to a higher court.
physician and therefore he implicitly relied on the words of the It is proper to publicize the case of this physician because one
physician. Thus, as soon as it was clarified that the physician gets an impression of arrogance from his actions, and especially since
had lied, the divorce became null and void.
he wanted to appeal to the secular courts. On the other hand, the
4. Another letter then arrived from the rav of the city. He wrote physician whom we are judging and is the subject of our question ex-
that when it became known to the former husband that the pressed remorse and sorrow by crying and also saying he would have
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