A. Machpud, 16, has been hospitalized in critical condition for a period of time and about three weeks ago, she was officially declared dead. While her heart was still beating, a death certificate was issued in her name at Shaare Zedek Hospital.

According to an exclusive report by Kikar Shabbos News, the girl began experiencing difficulty hearing and her condition rapidly deteriorated, until such time an illness that impacted her motor skills was diagnosed. As the illness impacted her movement, her condition continued to deteriorate until she was unable to eat and drink without assistance.

Comprehensive neurological tests in Rambam Medical Center in Haifa did not show anything significant, and from there she was transferred to Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikvah, to an intensive care unit, where she showed improvement. She was then transferred to the long-term Allyn Hospital in Jerusalem.

The family reports that a month ago, significant developments took place, with her hospitalization in Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. The doctors did a SPECT (Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography) exam to determine the brain function of the teenage girl, and it was determined there was no longer any brain function to speak of.

Her father, Eliezer Machpud, a melamed in Yerushalayim, is quoted telling Kikar Shabbos News “In light of the test, it was decided in Shaare Zedek to issue a death certificate in her name for some reason, despite the fact that halachically, she was alive in every sense of the words since her heart was beating regularly.

“However, they did not make do with an internal decision, and they handed the death certificate to us, lacking a minimum of sensitivity. My wife passed out on the spot when she saw that our daughter was officially declared dead, no longer among the living”.

The parents accuse the medical team for not providing sufficient care for their daughter, but they are simply waiting for her to die. They add that in addition, her heart continues beating today, three weeks after the death certificate in her name was issued.

With the assistance of the Let Us Live (‘תנו לאדם לחיות’) NGO, they turned to a court to demand an additional SPECT exam, to determine if there is any change in her brain activity since issuing the death certificate. The court complied with the request and ordered another SPECT exam by Shaare Zedek Hospital, which is going to be done.

As a result, on Monday night, a number of chareidim took it upon themselves to come to the pediatric intensive care unit in Shaare Zedek and protest, and they had to be forcibly removed by security personnel. The news report quotes one of the protestors saying that if there is a decision to stop her care or to chas v’sholom disconnect her from the machines, “the streets will burn”. Read more at YWN