Main Line Health’s Diversity, Respect, Equity and Inclusion Committee sent out a newsletter earlier this month with a wartime account from the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
It described Israel as “an occupying army.” It discussed Israeli soldiers stripping health-care workers “down to their underwear.” It also reported that the army was depriving people of food, water and medical supplies.
The account made no mention of Hamas’ use of the hospital for cover. It did not explain that Hamas was still holding hostages from Israel and other countries. There were no details on why Lankenau Medical Center, a hospital in the Main Line Health system, would need to play the role of a news organization.
Jewish doctors in the system, community members and activists were up in arms.
“I found this article to be extremely offensive as well as factually inaccurate,” said Dr. Philip Hirshman, an obstetrician/gynecologist.
“We were all pretty horrified,” added Dr. Stephen Gollomp, a neurologist. “It had no place. Why bring up this horrible situation in Gaza and not frame it properly?”
Word spread and filtered up to Jack Lynch, the president and CEO of Main Line Health.
Steve Rosenberg, a former Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia executive, worked with some doctors to get to Lynch. When Rosenberg called the CEO over the July 4 weekend, Lynch already had an apology email ready to send to MLH staff.
Some felt it didn’t go far enough, so Lynch sent out another one several days later.
“At Main Line Health, we pride ourselves on fostering a culture of respect where everyone feels safe, valued, and heard. We failed in meeting this commitment on July 2nd when one of our employee-led DREI Councils published a newsletter that included inaccurate and biased accounts related to the Israel-Hamas war. As the leadership of Main Line Health, we fully recognize that the article should not have been published. It was biased and engaged us in a complex topic about which we should not be involved,” Lynch wrote.
“Healthcare is for everyone, and we are committed to caring for all members of our community in a safe, high-quality and equitable manner. Despite this mistake, we assure you that Jewish patients, physicians and employees are welcome and safe at all Main Line Health facilities,” he continued. “As a healthcare institution, we very consciously try not to weigh in on geopolitical conflicts beyond a focus on the alleviation of human suffering. However, feedback on the article brought us to recognize that the sources used to describe the conflict centering around the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza were drawn from materials that did not accurately describe the complexity of what happened at the hospital. The article failed to make any mention that Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7 and killed and captured many Israelis, has controlled Al-Shifa Hospital using it for military operations. The article was completely one-sided and understandably viewed as antisemitic.”
“As leaders and as a health system, we are committed to learning from this experience and to putting safeguards in place so that nothing like this will happen again,” he concluded. “We extend our heartfelt apology and hope you will allow us to work to regain your trust.”
Lynch, Lankenau Medical Center President Katie Galbraith, MLH Chief Operating Officer Barbara Wadsworth and MLH Chief Diversity & Equity Officer Rosangely Cruz-Rojas signed the second apology email.
“This mistake occurred due to a lack of oversight and safeguards are being put into place to prevent anything like this from happening in the future,” wrote Andrea Boyle Tippett, an MLH spokesperson, in an email to the Jewish Exponent.
On July 11, three days after the second apology email, Lynch and senior leaders at MLH met with Jewish Federation President and CEO Michael Balaban, Philadelphia Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League Andrew Goretsky, Rabbi Geri Newburge of Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim and Robin Schatz, director of government affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
A summary of the meeting was provided by community leaders to interested parties.
“The group found the leadership to take responsibility, understand the depth and severity, and recognize that they had fractured trust within the Jewish Community,” said the message that was circulated via WhatsApp. “It was a productive meeting with the Hospital sharing that an external investigation is taking place and they have a commitment to regain the trust. They have asked for our collective guidance regarding educational resources, best practices, policy direction, enforcement and transparency. All of the individuals and organizations listed above have agreed to provide that guidance as well as, on behalf of the Jewish community, hold them (MLH) accountable for their commitments. MLH has already followed up with us and we will keep you informed as to the progress.”
The message also noted that although Rabbi Avraham Shmidman of Lower Merion Synagogue had been engaged in discussions about the MLH situation, he was unable to attend the meeting as he was traveling to Israel.
Boyle Tippett shared after the meeting that MLH had contracted with the law firm Cozen O’Connor to conduct the investigation.
Where would Lankenau be without it Jewish donors and doctors?
This is outrageous. There is nothing antisemitic about that article. Shame on MLH for walking it back.
This is outrageous. There is nothing antisemitic in that article.