Fw: How badly do we need doctors?

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DOCTORS' STRIKE IN ISRAEL MAY BE GOOD FOR HEALTHJudy Siegel-Itzkovich, Israel Sun, Jerusalem"Industrial action by doctors in Israel seems to be good for their patients' health. Death rates have dropped considerably in most of the country since physicians in public hospitals implemented a program of sanctions three months ago, according to a survey of burial societies. . . ."In the absence of official figures, the Jerusalem Post surveyed non-profit making Jewish burial societies, whichperform funerals for the vast majority of Israelis, to find out whether the industrial action was affecting deaths in the country."'The number of funerals we have performed has fallen drastically,' said Hananya Shahor, the veteran director of Jerusalem's Kehilat Yerushalayim burial society. 'This month, there were only 93 funerals compared with 153 in May 1999, 133 in the same month in 1998, and 139 in May 1997. .. ."(Editor's note: This doctors' strike in Israel is only the latest in a long string of doctor strikes in various countries of the world, including the United States. Inevery instance of a doctors' strike, death rates have fallen dramatically during the strike, sometimes by as much as 50%,only to rise after the strike ended.)