Relatives of an elderly Israeli woman have filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the Hadassim Nursing Home in Bnei Brak. Family members allege that the nurses refused to call a doctor when the 85-year-old’s condition worsened. The nursing home’s employees are reported to have told the family that calling a doctor would desecrate the Sabbath.

The elderly woman [had] been living in the long-term care nursing home since 2001, after suffering from a stroke. Her health was stable during these years except for one brief hospitalization. One day, when her family visited her at Hadassim, they noticed a radical change in the old woman. She breathed heavily, shook and refused to eat. The family members tried to alert medical personnel about the situation, but they refused to call the doctor in charge in order not to disturb [the physician] during Shabbat.

On Saturday night, when the patient’s situation worsened — and when, we can only assume, the Sabbath was over — she was urgently hospitalized, but died the next Wednesday.

Word to the wise: if you get seriously ill in orthodox Jewish circles, try to do it anytime from Sunday till Friday — or else Yahweh and his followers may just let you die.

(Image via Shutterstock — Thanks to Failed Messiah for the link)