Documentary Tracks American Doctors Working Inside Gaza’s War-Torn Hospitals
Filmmaker Poh Si Teng used her savings to produce "American Doctor," following three U.S. physicians as they treat patients in Gaza’s damaged Nasser Hospital.
Poh Si Teng, a former documentary commissioner at one outlet English, financed the documentary "American Doctor" after witnessing the silence surrounding the deaths of Palestinian journalists. The film centers on three American physicians—Mark Perlmutter, Feroze Sidhwa and Thaer Ahmad—who arrived in Gaza in March 2025, though Ahmad was turned away at the border. Perlmutter and Sidhwa worked inside the partially destroyed Nasser Hospital, treating patients with limited equipment and often without analgesics, while collaborating with Palestinian colleagues whose relatives are being killed.
The narrative includes a debate over how much graphic content to show, reflecting the tension between exposing brutality and respecting dignity. After leaving Gaza, the doctors joined Ahmad in a second effort to inform U.S. legislators about the conditions they observed. The documentary aims to humanize Gaza’s healthcare workers and spur American democratic action.
Why it matters
It reveals the humanitarian crisis in Gaza’s hospitals and attempts to bring U.S. attention to the situation.
In this story
