Media Contact:
Helen Chernikoff
hchernikoff@hadassah.org
347-899-6673
Surgeons at Hadassah Medical Center, a leading hospital system in Jerusalem, saved the life of a boy by reattaching his head to his neck after his near-decapitation in a horrific traffic accident.
Lead surgeon Dr. Ohad Einav, a specialist in traumatic spinal injuries, and Dr. Ziv Asa, an orthopedic surgeon, operated on Suleiman Hassan, 12, after determining that he had suffered an internal decapitation, meaning that the base of his skull had become detached from the top vertebrae of his spine.
Hasaan had been airlifted to Hadassah after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle.
Dr. Einav had learned how to perform the procedure, on adults, only a year before, during a fellowship in trauma medicine in Toronto, Canada. =
“We fought for the boy’s life,” said Dr. Einav. “Our ability to save him was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room.”
Hassan, who has no neurological deficits or sensory or motor dysfunction, was discharged and is being carefully monitored by the Hadassah staff.
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For more than a century, Hadassah Medical Center, the medical center of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has set the standard in Israel for excellence in treatment and research. The experience and ingenuity of Hadassah’s doctors and scientists have yielded ideas with vast potential in all areas of medicine, including therapeutics, diagnostic medical devices and digital health. In 2023, Newsweek named Hadassah a world leader in oncology, the only medical center in Israel to receive that honor, and one of the world’s top hospitals in cardiology and smart technology.