Oshri Asulin
Oshri AsulinCourtesy of the family

The parents of a 26-year-old Israeli man who died Sunday have rebutted claims by hospital officials that their son died as a result of a coronavirus infection.

On Sunday, Oshri Asulin, a native of Kfar Saba who had recently moved to Bnei Brak, passed away at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan in central Israel.

In a statement released Sunday evening, hospital officials claimed Asulin died as a result of complications caused by a coronavirus infection two months before his death.

Asulin was hospitalized two months ago after complaining of severe abdominal pain and fever.

Hospital officials say Asulin had been infected by the coronavirus, and developed a rare heart condition as a result of the infection.

But on Monday, Asulin’s parents publicly disputed the hospital’s claims, saying their son had never been tested for the coronavirus.

Rachel and Meir Asulin told Hadashot 12 Monday that the hospital has no proof their son was ever infected with the coronavirus.

“He didn’t have the coronavirus. We’re sure of that. We were with him for days at a time, and we weren’t infected. And there is no record anywhere that he was infected with the coronavirus. At one point, the doctor in charge said that we need to go into quarantine for two weeks because [Oshri] has the coronavirus. But how all of the sudden does he have it? He went through four tests and didn’t have it.”

“We asked to see the results of the tests, but they told us ‘We can’t show you, but we did the tests.’”

Oshri Asulin’s parents say the hospital is trying to cover up its own negligence.

“Where are the doctors?” said Rachel Asulin. “I asked the technician ‘what’s going on?. All of his signs were going down – call the doctors, save him, this is very dangerous. When the doctors came they threw us out and worked to restart his breathing. Three times he went through this within 40 minutes. Oxygen probably wasn’t getting to his brain.”

“We want to know what happened here,” Rachel and Meir said. “The system failed here. The hospital is trying to cover this up somehow. They don’t want to say that they caused him brain damage.”

Hospital officials from Sheba reiterated their claim Monday that Asulin was indeed infected with the coronavirus.