Darren Klugman Jewish paediatrician suspended by Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital after branding Palestinians depraved animals in social media posts on X, formerly Twitter as calls are now made for the doctor’s termination.
And it continues. A Jewish pediatrician has been suspended by the Baltimore‘s Johns Hopkins Hospital over inflammatory tweets in which the doctor branded Palestinians, ‘blood thirsty morally depraved animals’.
Darren Klugman has been placed on leave from the Maryland facility following outrage over his ‘controversial’ posts.
The doctor is now subject to an investigation by his employers after The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a complaint against him, WJZ reported.
Baltimore paediatrician suspended
Posts from Klugman’s X account (since no longer active) referred to Palestinians as ‘barbaric animals with no concern for life’ who ‘want nothing short of every inch of Israel and all Jews dead.’
He also replied to a post suggesting that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza was ‘large scale slaughter,’ which could displace Palestinians with the word ‘G-d willing.’
Johns Hopkins said that doctor, who has since been placed on leave will have no interaction with students or patients as it conducts an investigation.
Responded Johns Hopkins in a statement: ‘We at Johns Hopkins share the concern of many about the deeply disturbing social media posts made by a faculty member in the School of Medicine regarding the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
‘The faculty member who made these statements has been placed on leave, and thus will have no interaction with students or patients while we conduct a thorough investigation under our policies and procedures.
‘Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins University are committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for working, learning and patient care for every member of our community and all those we serve.
‘Statements that explicitly threaten or extol violence against groups or individuals on the basis of national origin, race or religion violate our policies and do not represent our values.’
Ethical and moral obligation of medical personnel
Colleagues of the Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, who did not want to be identified, told the Baltimore Banner his comments created ‘a culture of fear among doctors, staff and patients.’
They also questioned his ability to care for Muslim and Palestinian patients.
Zainab Chaudry, director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: ‘These abhorrent comments reportedly made by Dr. Klugman are deeply troubling and must be addressed swiftly and transparently.
‘A doctor who harbors views that any ethnic group is less than human and expresses support for their extermination cannot be trusted to diligently uphold their ethical and moral obligation to serve the medical needs of their patient population to the best of their ability.’
Chaudry has since demanded that Klugman be terminated by John Hopkins.
‘Hopkins, they need to take this seriously,’ Chaudry said via WJZ. ‘They need to take the appropriate measures by terminating his position there.’
Apology made but too late?
Following the controversy, Klugman emailed his hospital colleagues an apology for the ‘regrettable, hurtful messages’ WMAR2 News reported.
‘I cannot undo the harm and hurt that those messages caused and I am devastated by the impact it has had on my Hopkins family and others,’ he said.
His comments came in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and led to Israel in turn launching 5 weeks of ongoing bombardment of Gaza, with death toll estimates as recent as Monday being 11,240 persons, of which two thirds are described as being women and children.
Ongoing counting of civilians, estimated at 1 in every 200 Gaza civilians are no longer being counted amid Hamas Health run operatives now being targeted.
The state of affairs and highly polarized debate that it has engendered has since led to several high-profile cases of individuals being fired in the United States for posting controversial remarks along with actions, including tearing down of posters of Hamas hostages that has drawn the ire of the community amid accusations of anti-semitism.
The bombing of civilians in the interim continues unabated with some estimating anywhere from 11K to 20K now dead amid world demonstrations demanding an immediate end to the humanitarian disaster and accusations of world leader complicity in the unrelenting strike in Gaza and what many deem as ongoing genocide of civilians.
