Israeli doctor helps Iranian over Internet

JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- An Israeli doctor said he helped an Iranian doctor decide whether to recommend an abortion to a patient because of a rare genetic complication.

Dr. Adi Weissbuch, a senior physician at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, recently received an e-mail from a female Iranian doctor who sought his advice, The Jerusalem Post said.

The Iranian doctor, who identified herself as "NN," said she recently had read an article by Weissbuch in an international medical journal concerning the complication.

The Iranian doctor said her case involved a woman in her 16th week of pregnancy and Islamic law prohibits abortion after the 18th week, the Post said. There were no details explaining the problem in the Post story.

She sent Weissbuch a copy of lab results and asked his opinion.

After studying the information, Weissbuch said there was little chance of the woman giving birth to a healthy baby and delivering the baby would endanger her life. The Iranian doctor informed her patient who underwent an abortion, the paper said.

Weissbuch told the newspaper it was the first time he had ever received an e-mail from Iran.