Israel Medical Association Journal

Background: On 7 April 1933, the Nazi Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was enacted. The law triggered the dismissal of most Jewish medical staff from German universities. A few Jewish professors in Berlin were permitted to continue their academic activity with restrictions. Those professors were gradually dismissed as laws and restrictions were enforced.

Objectives: To identify the last Jewish medical professors who, despite severe restrictions, continued their academic duties and prepared students for their examinations in Berlin after the summer of 1933.

Methods: We reviewed dissertations written by the medical faculty of Berlin from 1933 to 1937 and identified Jewish professors who mentored students during those years.

Results: Thirteen Jewish tutors instructed dissertations for the medical examinations after the Nazi regime seized power. They were employees of different university hospitals, including the Jewish hospitals. We did not identify Aryan students instructed by Jewish professors. The professors were active in different medical disciplines. Half of the reviewed dissertations were in the disciplines of surgery and gynecology. The last Jewish tutors were dismissed in October 1935. However, some of their studies were submitted for examination after that date.

Conclusions: After the Nazi regime seized power, academic activities and medical research by Jewish professors declined but did not stop. However, these professors worked with only Jewish students on their theses. Most dissertations were approved and examined after the Jewish academics were dismissed by the university, in some cases even after they left Germany.

Background: In April 1937 it was forbidden for German Jewish students to sit for examinations. However, a few Jewish medical students were able to continue studying at Berlin University. The order to expel all Jewish students from German Universities was published on the morning after Kristallnacht (November 1938) and was strictly imposed.

Objectives: To identity the last Jewish medical students who managed, in spite of the severe restrictions, to continue their study and apply for the examinations in Berlin from summer 1937 through 1938.

Methods: Reviews of the dissertations written in the medical faculty of Berlin during 1937–1938 identified the Jewish students. We presented their demographic and academic characteristics.

Results: Sixteen Jewish students were identified: six Germans, six Americans, and four Eastern Europeans. Their average age was 18.7 ± 1.0 years, 22.5 ± 2.0 years, and 20.8 ± 2.5 years, respectively. The last Jewish student took the exams in July 1938 and submitted a thesis one month later. One German student was half Jewish. Five gained the rights to take the examinations as foreign students by renouncing their German citizenship. They were the main group affected by the government’s restrictions. The American and the Eastern European students were more protected by law.

Conclusions: Each of those groups had different academic careers. The Americans were the last Jewish students allowed to study in Germany. It seems that they were less aware of the national socialist atmosphere in the medical faculty in Berlin during 1937–1938.

Objectives: To investigate these injuries with respect to type, incidence and modes of prevention.

Methods: A retrospective study of medical records was performed for all patients admitted to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center due to horse-related injury between January 1984 and December 2008. A telephone questionnaire was used to complete the data.

Results: Eighty-nine subjects (267 injuries) were included in the study. Most of them were not professional horse riders or horse handlers. Helmet use was reported in only 28% of the participants. The number of subjects with horse-related injuries and the percentage of pediatric involvement increased during the study period. Falling from a horse was the most frequent cause of injury (60.67%), followed by being kicked (13.4%). Head and extremities were the most affected areas. On admission, 33.7% had a potential severe injury score. Forty-two participants (47%) had underlying fractures, mostly in the upper extremities. In the pediatric population, 16.2% (vs. 0% adults) rode horses for therapeutic reasons. Seventeen subjects reported having long-term consequences.

Conclusions: The findings are similar to those described in other parts of the world. Horseback riding-related injuries are increasing, which emphasizes the need for safety education programs in Israel.

Background: For centuries talismans and amulets have been used in many cultures for their legendary healing powers.

Methods: We asked the parents of every child (Jews and Arabs) admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit over a 2 month period to complete a questionnaire, which included demographic data on the patient and the family, the use of talismans or other folk medicine practices, and the perception of the effects of these practices on the patient’s well-being. A different questionnaire was completed by the ICU staff members on their attitude toward the use of amulets.

Results: Thirty percent of the families used amulets and talismans in the ICU, irrespective of the socioeconomic status of the family or the severity of the patient’s illness. Amulets and talismans were used significantly more by religious Jews, by families with a higher parental educational level, and where the hospitalized child was very young. The estimated frequency of amulet use by the children’s families, as perceived by the staff, was significantly higher than actual use reported by the parents. In Jewish families the actual use of amulets was found to be 30% compared to the 60% rate estimated by the medical staff; while in Moslem families the actual use was zero compared to the staff’s estimation of about 36%. Of the 19 staff members, 14 reported that the use of amulets seemed to reduce the parents' anxiety, while 2 claimed that amulet use sometimes interfered with the staff’s ability to carry out medical treatment.  

Conclusions: The use of talismans in a technologically advanced western society is more frequent than may have been thought. Medical and paramedical personnel dealing with very ill patients should be aware of the emotional and psychological implications of such beliefs and practices on patients and their families.

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ICU = intensive care unit