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Professor Cyril Karabus is a 78-year-old pediatric oncologist who has dedicated his life to treating children with malignancy and is widely respected for his expertise and compassion. He was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 18, 2012, while returning to his home in South Africa with his wife and daughter following his son’s wedding in Canada. The flight had stopped at Abu Dhabi International Airport overnight and he was detained by passport control. He was unaware that more than 10 years earlier he had been tried and convicted in absentia for manslaughter and falsifying documents (medical records) after the death of a 3-year-old girl with acute myeloblastic leukemia in 2002 while he was temporarily working in the UAE (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815)(The Cancer Letter. 2012;38[46]:11).
The injustice of Professor Karabus’ arrest and detention by the UAE’s judicial system is deplorable. A South African activist organization called the Treatment Action Campaign stated that by no modern principle of jurisprudence is it acceptable to try a foreign citizen in absentia without informing him/her. The South African Medical Association has cautioned members about working in the UAE and the British Medical Association has protested the conditions in which he had been held (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815). More recently, the World Medical Association (WMA) stated that an advisory notice will be published in the World Medical Journal and on the WMA Web site about the working conditions and legal risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/30council/cr_16/).
Professor Karabus recently was released after being held for 9 months (since August 2012) even though the prosecution could not find the disputed medical records. On March 21, 2013, a judge acquitted Professor Karabus of all charges. However, the prosecution elected to appeal the judge’s decision, keeping Professor Karabus in the UAE. He was finally released and was back home in South Africa on May 18, 2013. The WMA continues to emphasize the risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/40news/20archives/2013/2013_15/index.html).
What’s the issue?
First, is it still safe for doctors to accept locum tenens abroad? Perhaps yes, but it may be prudent to carefully assess the judicial system of the country in which one is considering to work before accepting the employment opportunity.
Second, should academic centers and particularly medical institutions be receiving large sums of money from foreign dictatorships, such as the UAE? Currently, there are several major medical institutions—Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland; the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC; and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston—that accept substantial financial contributions from the Zayed family who govern the UAE (Clin Dermatol. 2013;31:325-326).
Professor Cyril Karabus is a 78-year-old pediatric oncologist who has dedicated his life to treating children with malignancy and is widely respected for his expertise and compassion. He was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 18, 2012, while returning to his home in South Africa with his wife and daughter following his son’s wedding in Canada. The flight had stopped at Abu Dhabi International Airport overnight and he was detained by passport control. He was unaware that more than 10 years earlier he had been tried and convicted in absentia for manslaughter and falsifying documents (medical records) after the death of a 3-year-old girl with acute myeloblastic leukemia in 2002 while he was temporarily working in the UAE (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815)(The Cancer Letter. 2012;38[46]:11).
The injustice of Professor Karabus’ arrest and detention by the UAE’s judicial system is deplorable. A South African activist organization called the Treatment Action Campaign stated that by no modern principle of jurisprudence is it acceptable to try a foreign citizen in absentia without informing him/her. The South African Medical Association has cautioned members about working in the UAE and the British Medical Association has protested the conditions in which he had been held (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815). More recently, the World Medical Association (WMA) stated that an advisory notice will be published in the World Medical Journal and on the WMA Web site about the working conditions and legal risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/30council/cr_16/).
Professor Karabus recently was released after being held for 9 months (since August 2012) even though the prosecution could not find the disputed medical records. On March 21, 2013, a judge acquitted Professor Karabus of all charges. However, the prosecution elected to appeal the judge’s decision, keeping Professor Karabus in the UAE. He was finally released and was back home in South Africa on May 18, 2013. The WMA continues to emphasize the risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/40news/20archives/2013/2013_15/index.html).
What’s the issue?
First, is it still safe for doctors to accept locum tenens abroad? Perhaps yes, but it may be prudent to carefully assess the judicial system of the country in which one is considering to work before accepting the employment opportunity.
Second, should academic centers and particularly medical institutions be receiving large sums of money from foreign dictatorships, such as the UAE? Currently, there are several major medical institutions—Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland; the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC; and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston—that accept substantial financial contributions from the Zayed family who govern the UAE (Clin Dermatol. 2013;31:325-326).
Professor Cyril Karabus is a 78-year-old pediatric oncologist who has dedicated his life to treating children with malignancy and is widely respected for his expertise and compassion. He was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 18, 2012, while returning to his home in South Africa with his wife and daughter following his son’s wedding in Canada. The flight had stopped at Abu Dhabi International Airport overnight and he was detained by passport control. He was unaware that more than 10 years earlier he had been tried and convicted in absentia for manslaughter and falsifying documents (medical records) after the death of a 3-year-old girl with acute myeloblastic leukemia in 2002 while he was temporarily working in the UAE (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815)(The Cancer Letter. 2012;38[46]:11).
The injustice of Professor Karabus’ arrest and detention by the UAE’s judicial system is deplorable. A South African activist organization called the Treatment Action Campaign stated that by no modern principle of jurisprudence is it acceptable to try a foreign citizen in absentia without informing him/her. The South African Medical Association has cautioned members about working in the UAE and the British Medical Association has protested the conditions in which he had been held (Br Med J. 2012;345:e6815). More recently, the World Medical Association (WMA) stated that an advisory notice will be published in the World Medical Journal and on the WMA Web site about the working conditions and legal risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/30council/cr_16/).
Professor Karabus recently was released after being held for 9 months (since August 2012) even though the prosecution could not find the disputed medical records. On March 21, 2013, a judge acquitted Professor Karabus of all charges. However, the prosecution elected to appeal the judge’s decision, keeping Professor Karabus in the UAE. He was finally released and was back home in South Africa on May 18, 2013. The WMA continues to emphasize the risks for physicians working in the UAE (http://www.wma.net/en/40news/20archives/2013/2013_15/index.html).
What’s the issue?
First, is it still safe for doctors to accept locum tenens abroad? Perhaps yes, but it may be prudent to carefully assess the judicial system of the country in which one is considering to work before accepting the employment opportunity.
Second, should academic centers and particularly medical institutions be receiving large sums of money from foreign dictatorships, such as the UAE? Currently, there are several major medical institutions—Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland; the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC; and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston—that accept substantial financial contributions from the Zayed family who govern the UAE (Clin Dermatol. 2013;31:325-326).
