Ohio doctor fired for anti-Semitic tweets, including threats to give Jews "the wrong meds"

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer and  CBS News 

A prominent hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, fired a first-year resident after discovering anti-Semitic comments in her social media posts.

Lara Kollab was identified as the fired employee behind the comments. She worked as a supervised resident at the Cleveland Clinic from July to September, Cleveland.com reported.

Kollab’s anti-Semitic comments were first documented by Canary Mission, a group that examines social media accounts to find anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks.

Among the comments were threats to mistreat Jewish patients. “Hahha ewww.. I’ll purposely give all the [Jews] the wrong meds,” she wrote in a 2012 tweet.

In multiple other posts on Twitter, she called for violence against the Jewish people, called them “dogs,” compared them to the Nazis, and minimized the Holocaust.

“Look, Haifa is sweet (nice), but it’s full of Jewish dogs, and it looks like America, meaning, it wasn’t that special to me,” Kollab once wrote, according to the website’s translation. “I don’t mean to sound insensitive but I have a REALLY hard time feeling bad about Holocaust seeing as the people who were in it now kill my people,”

The Cleveland Clinic confirmed that a resident who posted anti-Semitic comments on social media is no longer with the organization. “She is no longer working at Cleveland Clinic. In no way do these beliefs reflect those of our organization. We fully embrace diversity, inclusion and a culture of safety and respect across our entire health system,” the Clinic said

The Cleveland Clinic says “there have been no reports of any patient harm” …A Clinic spokesperson said that hiring managers are not currently required to review a potential employee’s social media history, but said the system is discussing that. The Clinic said that first-year residents are under direct supervision and that there are “multiple safeguards” in place regarding patient care and prescribing medicine.

Kollab’s social media accounts have been deactivated.

She was issued a medical training certificate by the state in July 2018. That certificate cannot be used unless she is working for the Clinic, according to a spokesperson for the state medical board. The Clinic notified the state in September 2018 that Kollab was no longer with their program.

“Ohio training certificates are only valid as long as the individual is actively part of the program which was indicated on the training certificate application by the supervising entity,” said Tessie Pollock, director of communication for the State Medical Board of Ohio.

Touro College where she trained (during which period she made some of her comments) said

We are shocked that one of our graduates would voice statements that are antithetical to Touro and to the physicians’ Hippocratic Oath. We have received word from the Cleveland Clinic where Dr. Kollab was last affiliated and learned that she is no longer employed there.

The Plain Dealer has not been able to reach Kollab for comment.