Bay Area doctors participate in global sick-out to protest lack of medical care in Gaza
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Doctors across the Bay Area and the U.S. called in sick to work on Monday, opting to participate in a series of demonstrations and free clinics. It was part of a national day of action protesting a lack of medical care in Gaza.
One of the events was held on the campus of Stanford University.
"I don't take sick days," said Dr. Haleh Sheikholeslami, who works in family medicine in San Carlos. However, she made an exception on Monday, calling in sick for a cause.
Sheikholeslami has seen the situation in Gaza firsthand. She went last year to treat patients in the war zone.
"People are dying and to feel like some of the patients I saw there, who knows how many are alive now," she said.
Even medical professionals who haven't traveled to Gaza said the death toll of the war is taking a toll on their mental health.
"Really at the heart of it, you are just sad that people are dying. This is really not such a hot radical take on the world," said Stanford medical student Natali Barakat.
On campus, organizers built a pop-up clinic they say is geared toward treating their "sickness."
"This is a moral injury for healthcare workers and I think just humanity in general," said Rochelle McLaughlin, who recently resigned from her faculty position at San Jose State.
However, at Stanford, Jewish staff and students say they are sickened by the impact on Israel. Julia Segal returned three days ago.
"And that certainly left me feeling pretty unwell, seeing how life in Israel is not normal, seeing how much pain the whole country is in. You can't walk two feet without seeing a reminder of the hostages," said Segal, a Stanford student.
And they can't help but be concerned, that somehow politics and medicine are mixing.
"It's hard to see. It makes me second guess when I go to a hospital, when I go somewhere is somebody going to question me because I'm wearing a star, because of my last name, when it shouldn't be like that," said Matt Elkin, one of the coaches of Stanford men's basketball.
Doctors said it isn't about withholding care, it's about wanting access for all.
"We would like to see this end. We don't want to see any more patients die, healthcare workers die, humans die. We stand for all life," said Rupa Marya a professor of medicine at UCSF who says she is currently on suspension.
Other similar events were held across the country, from Massachusetts to Minnesota.