Patient Sues Dentist Who Refuses To Receive Him Because He’s ‘From Bnei Brak’

BNEI BRAK (VINnews) — During the course of the coronavirus epidemic, Bnei Brak has been significantly affected, with a high percentage of its citizens becoming infected with the virus. Hundreds passed away and many suffered serious side effects, but in recent days the virus has waned and Bnei Brak was this week declared a “green city”, meaning that the coefficient of infection is very low and most people with the virus are not infectious anymore.

Despite this, the city has been severely stigmatized recently in the Israeli media and this has led to people distancing themselves in public from Chareidim who are perceived to be “spreaders of disease”. Many Israelis who used to shop in Bnei Brak now avoid visiting, causing severe losses to businesses. Neighboring cities are still wary of allowing people from Bnei Brak to visit them.

Recently a Bnei Brak resident required dental care but when he called his Givatayim dentist for a reservation, he was told that if he was from Bnei Brak, he could not be treated because “they are people at risk and there is coronavirus.” The secretary told him that they would not be accepting from Beni Brak “until it is green.” The patient said that he himself had always been very careful and asked what he should do if his teeth hurt, but the secretary insisted, stating: “I’m sorry, but I cancelled all patients from Bnei Brak. Go to a local dentist.”

The patient decided to hire a lawyer and sue the clinic for refusing to receive patients from Bnei Brak. Attorney Yedidia Leventhal told radio show anchors Kalman Libskind and Assaf Liberman that “there is a law incorporating the rights of patients and a dentist must treat whoever requests treatment. If she hadn’t known that he was religious, she would not have asked him where he lives.”