The father of an eight-year-old boy from Ofakim claims that, while his son was undergoing ear surgery in Be’er Sheva’s Assuta Hospital, the anesthesiologist left the room in the middle of administering the anesthesia.

The father claims that he had previously agreed to be present while his son was put under. “At the beginning of the procedure the scared child lay on the operating table, the assistant placed a mask on his face, and the anesthesiologist place his hand on the regulator giving my son Or narcotics.

“Suddenly the doctor pulled out his smartphone and began playing with it. While he was focused on the device, he didn’t even look at the anesthetic device for even a moment. Only his right hand shook back and forth, and dispensed the medicine”

He continued: “After about a minute and a half of using his smartphone, I felt as a father that something wrong was happening, possibly even endangering my son’s life. I politely, but firmly, asked the anesthesiologist – ‘can you please focus on the anesthetic and stop using your phone?’ The doctor looked at me with anger and said, ‘Do you want to tell me that I don’t know how to do my job?’ I told him, ‘I am just a father and I don’t think it’s right for you to play with your phone will treating my son and to not focus on the machine’s display.'”

He says that the doctor answered angrily, “What? What? What?” The concerned father tried again, saying, “It really doesn’t seem right to me, what you’re doing.” At that point the doctor ripped the mask off of his son’s face and said, “I don’t want to continue the procedure.”

At this point the father began apologizing. “Doctor, I’m sorry if I offended you. Please don’t leave in the middle of a medical procedure – the child already received narcotics.”

The doctor was unmoved, however. “It’s not an issue of apology, I must protect myself. If something happens to the child during the operation you will blame me and sue me for using my phone.” The father claims that the doctor then abandoned the room, offering the parting words: “Find a new doctor.”

The father states that the support team, including the operating surgeon, were stunned. “I am shocked and can’t believe the embarrassing behavior of the doctor who left while my son was laid out on the stretcher with narcotics in his body and no supervision. All this because I remarked about using a phone during the procedure. What would have happened if my child had an emergency and there was no anesthesiologist in the room?”

After several minutes, the doctor returned and completed the procedure. The father says that, when he left the room, the other doctors explained that the anesthesiologist does this frequently. Not only has he never been criticized for his actions, but the administration has even praised him. As a result, the father says the Assuta Hospital’s administration is at fault, and he requests that they carry out a thorough check on the doctor’s behavior.

Assuta Hospital responded to an inquiry by stating: “Assuta takes the conduct of the anesthesiologist very seriously. At this stage, and until a further decision is made, he is suspended from his position at Assuta.”