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NOTIFYING AUTHORITIES
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OF A PHYSICIAN’S
48 DEFICIENCIES
1 Questions
A position became available in a hospital, and a certain physician
applied. He is an expert and experienced, but he has a major charac-
ter flaw: he is constantly teasing people and making biting remarks
about them. One can assume that if he is accepted, he will make it
difficult for the medical staff and physicians, and perhaps also for the
patients. Is it permissible to reveal this to the administration of the
hospital and thus interfere with his candidacy, or is it prohibited as
lashon hara?
A patient once suffered from cough, shortness of breath and lack
of air, along with a low-grade fever that continued for 7 days. The
emergency room physician did not bother to examine her but sent
her immediately for an x-ray. Additionally, he did not interpret the
x-ray correctly and did not diagnose pneumonia, even though there
were abnormalities in the chest x-ray. In his discharge letter he wrote
that the patient was suffering from inflammation of the bronchial
passages and the sinuses in the nose, despite the fact that nothing on
the x-ray indicated this. The antibiotic treatment he prescribed was
not helpful and the patient soon arrived at another hospital in serious
condition. The second physician listened to the patient’s chest and
made an immediate diagnosis of pneumonia. He said that at the pa-
220 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
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A PHYSICIAN OPENED HIS
COLLEAGUE’S LETTER BY
MISTAKE AND NOW WANTS
50 TO REVEAL HIS SECRET
LETOELES
1 Question
Dr. Shimon is a physician who works in a hospital in Israel. One day,
Shimon opened a letter by mistake, and saw that it was meant for
Dr. Reuven, his friend, who is a wonderful and expert physician and
with vast medical knowledge. In the letter, the administration of a
hospital abroad was offering him a position and promising a salary
several times what Dr. Reuven was earning in Israel.
Shimon knew that if Reuven leaves his present hospital it will be a
great loss to the patients in Israel. If he would tell the administration
of the hospital here in Israel, they would speak to Reuven, favor him
and convince him not to leave his position in their hospital.
Is it permissible for Shimon to reveal what he saw by accident,
without permission?
1
AnsweR
The Kol Bo writes (#116) that there is a decree from Rabbeinu Gershom
that one should not read a fellowman’s letter without his knowledge
and without his permission. The Be’er Hagolah (Yoreh Deah, end of
#334) writes that the decree of Rabbeinu Gershom was that one not
look at another’s mail without his permission unless he discarded it.
Physician wants to reveal secret 2 249
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