Doctors and Parents in Children's Wards: Tel-Hashomer Hospital's Unrestricted Visitations in 1950s' Israel.

This article examines the 1953 experimental programme at Tel-Hashomer Hospital in Israel that allowed unrestricted parental visitation in children's wards, inspired by British psychoanalyst John Bowlby’s theory opposing child–parent separation during hospitalisation. Tel-Hashomer, a newly established government hospital, implemented this policy despite prevailing societal stigmas against Mizrahi immigrant parents, who were often viewed as unfit caregivers; the programme notably included and respected these parents as active participants in their children's care. The study situates Tel-Hashomer’s approach within broader mid-twentieth-century developments in Britain and Canada regarding parental presence in paediatric wards and highlights the hospital’s role in challenging traditional medical authority by elevating parental involvement. While some paternalistic attitudes toward Mizrahi parents persisted among staff, the programme marked a significant shift toward acceptance and integration of diverse parental roles in Israeli healthcare during a period of mass immigration and hospital overcrowding.