Palestinian-Israeli doctor upholds oath as ethics are tested

Medical ethics are under pressure in Israel’s mixed-care system, yet Dr Lina Qasem-Hassan continues to assert the physician’s oath of equal care even as the wider context grows more fraught.

Qasem-Hassan, a Palestinian living and working in Israel, teaches medical ethics and practises as a physician, treating both Israeli and Palestinian patients while foregrounding the oath’s obligations.

Israel’s internationally acclaimed healthcare system is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading examples, and a quarter of its doctors are Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Across the record: filming began in February 2024, the share of doctors who are Palestinian citizens is a quarter, and the setting spans Israeli and Palestinian patients within the same system.

Source basis and timeline: filming started in February 2024 and the conflict has continued to escalate since, as Qasem-Hassan’s commitment to the oath remains unwavering.

While the medical oath calls for equal care for all patients, she describes a profession increasingly at odds with that principle, underscoring the ethical tension her work seeks to confront.

30 July 2025 15:15 By London Health News Desk