Senior physician Dr. Adi Weissbuch at Kaplan Medical Center recently helped save the life of an Iranian woman — by email.

According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, an Iranian doctor contacted Weissbuch after reading an article he published regarding a rare genetic complication of pregnancy. Weissbuch had supplied his e-mail address at the bottom of the article.

The Iranian doctor, who identified herself as ‘NN’, contacted Weissbuch for a second opinion on a patient in her 16th week of pregnancy. The Iranian doctor sent the woman’s lab results and wanted to know whether to recommend an abortion because of a rare genetic complication.

Weissbuch responded that based on the data he was given, the woman’s life would be in danger if she were to carry full term – and also noted that the baby had little chance of being born healthy. The Iranian doctor advised the woman to terminate her pregnancy and save her life, and that is what she did.

“For me as a doctor, caring for patients is not dependent on nationality, gender or religion. We are morally bound to give proper treatment and advice to whoever needs it,” Weissbuch told The Jerusalem Post. “From my side, of course all of my correspondence with the Iranian physician mentioned ‘The State of Israel’ under my full name, but she was not dissuaded by this fact.”