In any event, the alleged damage faded in the face of the broad public interest of convicting offenders of the offenses they committed and punishing them accordingly. Especially when it comes to someone who exploits his medical profession to sexually abuse patients, who give him their absolute trust for the purposes of an examination that is by nature revealing and sensitive.
- However, I do not ignore the fact that we could have avoided the current state of affairs. The days, weeks and months have passed since the judgment that is the subject of the application before us was rendered, and at that time I have retired from the seat of justice. Looking back on this proceeding, I would indeed change one thing - I would have ordered that the parties' response to our proposal be submitted in the framework of a joint notice in which the parties would announce whether the court's proposal was accepted or rejected. In other words, not in the manner in which the appellant's misunderstanding led to the respondent's adherence to her erroneous position, which was given on the basis of her erroneous understanding of what we have said. In any event, this lesson is only in the realm of managing the legal process and I hope that it will help my fellow judges in all the courts.
This remark, which is of a procedural nature, is nothing but an introduction to an even more important fundamental comment - the sentence is not merely "technical". The respondent committed acts of fraudulent rape against his patients. In their response to the request before us, they cry out for harm to them, and it would be right to do them justice. In the framework of the appellant's first position with respect to the respondent's arguments for annulment of the judgment, the position of his victims was not brought up at all.
I will therefore conclude with remarks from the position of the victims of the offense with respect to the respondent's request to annul the judgment, as it was placed before us: "Beyond all the legal arguments, at the end of the day, there is one moral question on the agenda, and that is whether it is appropriate for a doctor who committed sexual offenses against his patients not to be held accountable for his actions, and the severe harm he inflicted on the applicants should be as if there had never been". In my opinion, this is indeed the main question, and my answer to it is clear.
- Conclusion: The judgment that is the subject of the application was given with authority, is based on the evidence and the provisions of the law, and there is no reason to cancel or change it.