Following his horrifying massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Robert Bowers was injured in a shootout with law enforcement. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where at least one of the doctors and one nurse assigned to keep him alive are Jewish. In fact, the hospital’s president is Dr. Jeffrey K. Cohen — a member of Tree of Life.
Cohen spoke with CNN about the complex role of helping not just a deranged mass murderer, but a man who specifically targeted Cohen’s own community, and his testimony is a powerful one.
“We’re here to take care of sick people,” Cohen, told ABC affiliate WTAE. “We’re not here to judge you. We’re not here to ask ’Do you have insurance?’ or ’Do you not have insurance?’ We’re here to take care of people that need our help.”
“I wanted to try to understand why he did this,” Cohen said, but said that his conversation with Bowers yielded no answers. Cohen says he simply asked him how he was feeling, introduced himself and left. He says the FBI agent in charge said “I don’t know how you did that. I don’t know if I could have.”
“It’s time for leaders to lead,” Cohen said. “And the words mean things. And the words are leading to people doing things like this, and I find it appalling.”
