In August 2013, David Finti, a young Romanian Jewish activist who had just been accepted to medical school, was electrocuted when he reached up and touched a wire in a reconstructed historical tram in a museum in Iași, Romania.
Airlifted from the tourist site to a hospital in Bucharest, his parents were warned to prepare for his death. An emissary from The Jewish Agency for Israel suggested that the critically injured David be transferred to the Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel. His dad, the Yiddish actor Alexanderu Finti, said that moving his son was the hardest decision he and David's mom, Emanuella Finti, made in their lives.
And one of the best.
Dr. Marc Romain was among the doctors who helped keep David alive despite his 80 percent burns and unstable condition in the air ambulance to Ben Gurion International Airport, and afterward in the ambulance to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. Hadassah's medical team overcame all the challenges for this extremely complex patient.
After months of medical treatment, David returned to Bucharest to start medical school. Today he is in the third year of a residency in general practice. When Dr. Romain, a senior physician and lecturer at Hadassah, was invited to speak to medical staff in Timisoara, Romania, about continuous renal replacement therapy, he wanted to see his former patient. Dr. Finti met him at the airport in Bucharest for an emotional reunion.
"Rescuing David was one of the most dramatic events of my life as a young physician," said Dr. Romain. "What a joy it was to see him as a young physician today."
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