Health Ministry shuts down former Hadassah oncologist’s private Tel Aviv clinic

Sheffer reported that between March and December 2015, seven patients who had undergone special bone-marrow transplants for cancer at Slavin’s clinic had suffered complications.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: JANUARY 17, 2016 22:12
Doctor with sample (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Doctor with sample
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The International Center for Cellular Medicine and Cancer Immunotherapy – a private medical institution in Tel Aviv’s Palace Tower run by the former “stem-cell wonder” at Hadassah- University Medical Center Prof. Shimon Slavin – has been ordered shut down by the Health Ministry.
The ministry’s Tel Aviv District health officer, Dr. Rivka Sheffer, wrote to Slavin with copies to the Israel Police, the ministry’s director-general, its legal adviser and other officials, that what was going on in Slavin’s clinic “was not for the good of the health of patients there.”
Sheffer reported that between March and December 2015, seven patients who had undergone special bone-marrow transplants for cancer at Slavin’s clinic had suffered complications – some of them life threatening – and were hospitalized at Hadassah in Ein Kerem.
As a result, the ministry opened an investigation and paid a surprise visit to the clinic, where staffers “prevented the entrance of the ministry team” even though they had the legal right to be there, the ministry said. Due to the “lack of cooperation by the clinic director and his team, concern was aroused that the treatment in the clinic does not meet medical standards.”
As a result, the ministry on January 13 issued an immediate closing order out of fear that the clinic could damage patients’ health.
Slavin was invited to the chief medical officer’s office on January 14 with a lawyer if he wished. As the ministry did not say what happened since then, it appeared that Slavin did not come to the hearing.
Slavin was not available for comment as no phone numbers were available.
More than a decade ago, Slavin had been presented by Hadassah as a “genius” at stem cell transplants who had saved many lives at his in-house clinic at the hospital using unconventional means. Since then, he retired and set up his private clinic in Tel Aviv. Although The Jerusalem Post had asked for former Hadassah colleagues of Slavin to comment on the story, it was told that members of his generation of oncologists could probably not be found to speak with.