Israeli Surgeons Reattach Palestinian Boy’s Head After Decapitation

Leaving this one right here.

Dr. Ohad Einav and Dr. Ziv Asa with 12-year-old Suleiman Hassan at Hadassah Medical Center after surgery to reattach his head to his neck after he suffered internal decapitation in a bicycle accident. (Hadassah Medical Center)

Israeli surgeons reattach Palestinian boy’s head after internal decapitation

By Jack Rosen, IJN, July 13, 223:

Israel applied its innovative medical technology to save the life of a Palestinian child whose head was nearly severed from his body.

This happened around the time a BBC presenter sparked controversy by claiming on July 4 that Israeli military is “happy to kill Palestinian children.”

Twelve-year-old Suleiman Hassan’s head nearly separated from the body in a West Bank car accident while riding his bike.

When an Israeli helicopter brought him to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, doctors said there was a 50-50 chance he would live.

But this week, as a BBC anchor accused Israel of killing Palestinian children, Suleiman was discharged from the hospital and resumed normal life.

The worst of Suleiman’s injuries from the crash was a fracture in the internal connection between his head and neck, along with tearing of all the supporting ligaments.

An Israeli medical team operated on him in a surgical procedure lasting several hours. Technology and intensive care saved Suleiman’s life.

He went home this week wearing a cervical splint to aid his full recovery.

Israeli medical attention spared this Palestinian child neurological deficit and sensory dysfunction.

“The injury is extremely rare, but we do know that because children between ages four and 10 have heads that are large in relation to their bodies, they are more susceptible than adults,” Einav said.

Studies suggest that over half of children and adolescents do not survive the condition, also known as bilateral atlanto-occipital joint dislocation.

“We fought for the boy’s life,” Einav added. “While in the operating room, we used new plates and fixations in the damaged area . . . Our ability to save the child was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room.”

His father told Hadassah’s staff: “I will thank you all my life for saving my dear only son.

“Thanks to you he regained his life even when the odds were low and the danger was obvious. What saved him were professionalism, technology and quick decision-making by the trauma and orthopedics team,” he said.

This is not a lone story about Israelis saving Palestinian children. In 2013, three-year-old Mohammed Al-Farra was abandoned by his parents due to a genetic disorder that left this toddler without limbs. Hamas in Gaza refused to pay for his health care. The Palestinian Authority was not interested.

This Palestinian child has known just one home: the yellow-painted children’s ward in Israel’s Tel Hashomer Hospital, where the Israeli staff raised funds to look after him.

Israeli hospitals have treated Syrian children. The Jewish state’s humanitarian streak extended to the neighborhood, to people in Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.

Israel rushed humanitarian aid to Pakistan in the devastating 2005 Kashmir earthquake despite lack of diplomatic ties.