Doctor Permanently Loses Medical License for Illegal Home Births

Dr. Ilan Halevy, a gynecologist and obstetrician who specialized in home births, has had his medical license permanently revoked. The decision came after it was determined that Halevy repeatedly performed home births against Ministry of Health guidelines, continuing even after explicit orders prohibited him from accepting expectant mothers. Retired Judge Amnon Straschnov described Halevy's conduct as "very bad and severe," stating that he "acted contrary to the Ministry of Health's directives during his treatment of mothers and infants, which prohibit home births in certain cases, he violated almost every directive."

Straschnov noted that Halevy's actions created a "clear and present danger to the well-being of mothers and newborns." The ruling detailed three instances where mothers, whose conditions made them unsuitable for home births, required urgent hospital care due to complications. One severe case resulted in the death of an infant.

In one documented case from July 17, 2018, Halevy accepted a woman with a history of two Cesarean sections for a home birth at his "Jahara Doula" facility in the Sharon region, a high-risk situation according to the Ministry of Health. Following the birth, the infant suffered respiratory distress. Instead of calling an ambulance and providing medical information to the hospital, Halevy sent the mother and infant without accompaniment or a summary document. The baby arrived at the hospital in distress and later died at Schneider Children's Medical Center.

Prior to this, on June 16, 2018, Halevy attended to another woman with two prior C-sections. During labor, he suspected a uterine rupture but sent her to a distant hospital in a private car without IV fluids or accompaniment, failing to alert the hospital about the suspected rupture. This led to a district physician's order to cease operations at his facility, and later, the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health limited Halevy's practice to supervised work in a recognized medical institution.

Despite these restrictions and administrative orders, Halevy continued to perform home births and even abortions illegally. In September 2018, he accepted a woman for an abortion against an order and advised her to misrepresent the reason for the procedure at the hospital. In 2020, while his license was suspended, he accepted a woman for delivery despite a breech presentation and a history of C-sections; she later arrived at the hospital with active bleeding and underwent an emergency C-section. Halevy continued to accept home births through 2021 and 2022.

In addition to the disciplinary proceedings, Halevy faced criminal charges for medical negligence, illegal abortions, and obstruction of justice. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in February 2026 to 36 months in prison and a fine of 160,000 shekels. The court criticized his "deliberate and declared disregard" for foreseeable risks, stating he "blatantly ignored and disdained" professional practices, endangering patients. The disciplinary committee deemed his case "extremely severe" and recommended permanent removal from the medical profession, citing his repeated violations of core medical principles. Halevy's legal team argued for a lesser sentence based on his age and personal circumstances, but Straschnov dismissed these, emphasizing the severity of his actions and the ongoing danger he posed to public health, ultimately upholding the committee's recommendation to permanently revoke his license.