Some big news recently was the High Court deciding in favor of the Meuhedet health clinic against a family whose baby was born paralyzed.

Meuhedet had refused to cover treatment of the baby, because they said a doctor had warned the parents early in the pregnancy that the baby would be born paralyzed, and recommended that they abort the pregnancy. The parents went to Rabbi Mordechai Eliiyahu who advised them to not abort. They followed the rabbis advice, the baby was born paralyzed as the doctor had said would happen, and Meuhedet refused to cover expenses.

Based on some reports (not in the INN article linked below) it seems the wife got pregnant while on an IUD, which is considered dangerous. It is risky for the pregnancy, and it is risky for the baby. The doctor recommended aborting, as the baby would, based on his exams, be born paralyzed, and the family chose to continue the pregnancy, based on advice form the rabbi. They sued claiming the doctor did not give them all the necessary information they need in order to make the decision.

The family sued, the family won. Meuhedet was obligated to pay. Meuhedet appealed to the High Court, and the High Court now ruled in favor of Meuhedet, overturning the original decision. The Court considers it unlikely that the doctor would not have explained to them the dangers and they need to be held responsible for rejecting the doctors advice.
source: INN

We don't know, from the articles, what the advice from Rabbi Eliyahu was based on. Was it a bracha? Was it advice? was it a psak halacha against abortion? Was it based on a kabbalistic vision? Was it psychological support for a troubled family in a difficult time? I'm not sure it matters, but we cannot comment on it because we don't know what it was.

I agree that Rabbis are not doctors. Rabbis can be approached for comfort and guidance, but they should not give medical advice, unless they have acquired expertise in any particular field (like they should not give financial advice unless they have expertise in those matters). This is not to say anything bad about Rabbi Eliyahu - we don't know what he said. Maybe he gave a bracha, maybe he gave a psak halacha, maybe he just offered comfort, or maybe he gave [bad] advice. We don't know, so we cannot comment on it.

On the other hand, I can say I am surprised that parents are obligated to follow a doctors advice to terminate a pregnancy. I never heard such a thing before. I do wonder if they went to another doctor for a second opinion. Regardless, I am surprised to hear that they were obligated to terminate a pregnancy like this. Advice to terminate can be understood, perhaps, especially if there was some sort of danger to the mother's life (which it does not say was the case), but to turn that to an obligation to terminate?

I fear where this might take us. Will parents now feel more pressure to terminate high risk pregnancies out of fear of how they might later be obligated based on the outcome?

Rabbis are not doctors, but doctors are supposed to work to save lives, not end them.

I hate going to the doctor. I had to go today. I got there a few minutes before my appointment, and lo and behold it turns out he is running over an hour late.

I had other things to do, other things scheduled, but it was all thrown out of whack because of the doctors office. A few minutes is ok, I can understand it. But an hour behind schedule? Not acceptable.

Bein Hazmanim for the Yeshiva world is here, as the month of Nissan began yesterday. In Israel that means one thing, unfortunately. It is just a matter of time before we begin hearing about tragedies of Yeshiva bochurim on tiyulim without taking proper equipment, not enough water, etc. and ending up in some sort of tragedy. This past year there were a lot of tragedies of yeshiva bochurim on tiyulim, and the number seems to increase every vacation period.

In an attempt to avert the tragedy before it happens, ZAKA in conjunction with Meuhedet have been advertising courses in different areas, specifically in Haredi areas where the problem seems to be more rampant. The courses are to train the guys how to go on a tiyul, what is necessary to take along, how to be careful in the environment, basic first aid, etc.

Hopefully these courses will help, the guys can go out and safely enjoy themselves, and we will not be awash with news reports of yeshiva guys who dehydrated, got lost or fell off a cliff, chas v'shalom..