Israeli police arrest 70 medical workers for abusing patients

Israeli police on Wednesday arrested 70 employees of a mental health center over alleged physical and sexual abuse of patients. The Neve Ya'akov facility, located in Petach Tikva near Tel Aviv, is home to 160 patients. In a sudden raid after a year-long investigation, some 150 policemen descended on the facility, hauling in doctors, nurses and other workers, Army Radio reported. Former workers at the health center had tipped off the health ministry that some of the employees had sexually abused the patients, tied them to their beds and beat them. The ministry, along with the welfare and social services ministry, referred the case to the police. "We started collecting reports of mistreatment at the psychiatric facility," police chief superintendent Sigal Bar-Zvi said after the raid. The police took the facility's surveillance camera footage and computers as evidence. "We began to suspect that there were a number of workers who were abusing patients, while others knew and did nothing to stop them," Bar-Zvi added. Meanwhile, the health ministry arranged an alternative team of doctors to administer the facility and take care of its patients.