Munmun Kaur
Published On: December 27, 2021 at 12:17 IST
The Jerusalem District Court, on December 26, ordered an exterminator and an emergency clinic to pay NIS 3.5 Million as Compensation to a family whose two daughters died eight years ago due to exposure to a poisonous compound that was used as a pesticide in their apartment.
The District Court said that the exterminator made use of deadly material that is prohibited in residential apartments, in the knowledge that is forbidden and also said that the doctor was at fault for not paying enough attention to what the family said about the pesticides being sprayed and eventually did not look into that possibility.
In 2014, the exterminator Yossi Barkan used aluminum phosphide which when mixed with water reacts to release phosphine which is an extremely harmful gas. He had left the container inside a room that he sealed with masking tape intending to return to continue his work. Later, in the evening the Gross couple took their children to the hospital who complained of nausea and diarrhea believing it to be a case of food poisoning.
Doctors at the hospital prescribed some painkillers but the next day the family was severely stricken by the fumes which eventually led to the death of the two girls and the boys fighting for their life. Following the death of the girls, the hospital in a statement had expressed their grief and at the same time claimed that the test indicated no symptoms of poisoning.
Attorneys for the Gross family said in a statement “there is no price for life that was cut short at such a young age, but there is a little consolation in the fact that the Court has set a standard of conduct that may prevent the recurrence of similar cases in the future”
Yossi Barkhan was indicted in 2017 after reaching a Plea bargain to serve a shorter Sentence of three years in Prison.