Letter from Catholic Medical Associations to hospital directors
On October 7, 2024, the Catholic Association of Polish Doctors, the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives, the Association of Polish Catholic Pharmacists and the Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians sent a letter of support to hospital directors in Poland who are at risk of losing contracts with the National Health Fund for refusing abortion.
Catholic Association of Polish Doctors
Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives
Association of Polish Catholic Pharmacists
Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians
Warsaw, 7.10.2024
Dear Sirs, Directors of hospitals in Poland
We would like to support you in the difficult situation in which you find yourself, after the Minister of Health, Ms. Izabela Leszczyna, issued on 14.05.2024 a regulation amending the regulation on general terms and conditions of contracts for the provision of medical care services and on 30.08.2024 “Guidelines on applicable legal provisions regarding access to the procedure for termination of pregnancy”, on the basis of which each health facility implementing a contract with the National Health Fund regarding hospital treatment in the field of gynecology and obstetrics will be obliged to kill unborn children, based on a one-time certificate of deterioration of the health of the pregnant woman.
At the same time, it was decided in the “Guidelines” that obtaining additional decisions or opinions from doctors or organizing a consultation will be treated as a restriction of access to the abortion procedure, which will be financially punished with the risk of termination of the contract by the National Health Fund. Some directors have already been punished for actions aimed at clarifying the diagnosis of the mother’s disease or starting her treatment.
(1) On September 7, 2024, the Catholic Medical Associations
expressed their opinion on this matter in a joint position in the form of a letter to the Minister of Health.
(2) We are sending you the content of this letter, to be used in defense of the rights of directors and medical personnel employed in your facilities.
We believe that abortion is never a method of treatment or a means of restoring a woman’s health and often worsens her physical and mental health.
The Ordo Iuris Institute has prepared an analysis of the Guidelines, in which it indicates that they are not a source of law and are not binding on gynecologists as a requirement for a specific procedure towards pregnant women and their children. The Guidelines interpret selected provisions in a pro-abortion and defective manner, omitting the provisions of the Act on the professions of physician and dentist and the Code of Medical Ethics that are binding on physicians. The author of the Guidelines anonymously ignored the fact that there have been no changes to the law in Poland regarding the admissibility of abortion and liability for illegal abortions.
[3]Do not agree to the involvement of the hospital management and staff in the abortion procedure, which degenerates the entire facility and reduces the determination of the staff to save the lives of patients in all departments.
The regulation of the Ministry of Health violates Art. 53 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of conscience to every citizen. The guidelines are contrary to the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 7 October 2015 (case file reference K 12/14), which confirmed that it is unconstitutional not only to force medical personnel to participate in abortions, but also to impose an obligation on doctors to provide information on where abortions can be performed. Forcing hospital directors to find a patient places where she can kill her child violates their constitutional freedom of conscience. “The National Health Fund, when “contracting” health services, should not, by imposing an obligation to perform a specific service as a sine qua non condition for concluding a contract, force medical entities to perform “morally sensitive” services, and consequently – should not force the medical personnel of these entities to be formed according to the criterion of conscience.”
The guidelines pose a risk of hindering access to medical services for pregnant women in facilities that will be deprived of their contract with the National Health Fund, which violates Article 68 of the Constitution. There can be no double standards of access to the conscience clause in patient care, different for doctors – heads of hospitals and directors. Article 2, paragraph 3 of the Act on the Performance of the Medical Profession clearly states that ” the performance of the medical profession also includes managing a medical entity”
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in its resolution 1763 of 7 October 2010 on the right to conscientious objection in the framework of legitimate health care, indicated that ” no person, hospital or institution may be legally coerced, held legally liable or discriminated against for refusing to perform, assist in or submit to an abortion, a miscarriage, euthanasia or any other act that could cause the death of a human embryo or embryo for any reason”
We hope that our psychiatrist colleagues employed in your hospitals will approach the issue of issuing certificates that may be death sentences for innocent children responsibly, in accordance with their medical vocation and the principles of professional ethics, and that gynaecologists and obstetricians will find understanding for the freedom of their consciences among those managing your hospitals.
The Polish Constitution gives you, as Directors, the right to refer the regulation of the Minister of Health, issued as a regulation of a central state body, to the Constitutional Tribunal for the purpose of assessing the compliance of this regulation with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. We appeal to you not to accept an unjustly imposed financial penalty and to use this right against the aggressive attack on the life and health of Polish mothers of their children and the conscience of doctors.
The Supreme Medical Council has also expressed its criticism of the Ministry of Health’s guidelines on performing abortion procedures. “The creation of guidelines for doctors is the exclusive domain of medical scientific societies and scientific bodies, while their issuance by the Minister of Health may be perceived as an attempt to exert pressure on the medical community.”
We wish you success in the difficult and responsible mission of managing hospitals for the good of patients whose health and lives are cared for by the employed staff. We kindly ask you to take kind care of the health and lives of mothers and their unborn and already born children.
Kind regards
- Dr. n. med. Elżbieta Kortyczko, President of the Catholic Association of Polish Physicians (KSLP)
- Prof. Bogdan Chazan, Vice President of the KSLP
- Prof. Jerzy Jurkiewicz, Chairman of the Peer Court of the KSLP
- Dr. Grażyna Rybak, President of the Masovian Branch of the KSLP (OM KSLP)
- Dr. Andrzej Niemirski, President of the Radom Region Branch of the State Forests Society
- Dr. Tadeusz Wadas, President of the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives
- Dr. Małgorzata Prusak, MA, Theology, President of the Association of Catholic Pharmacists in Poland
- Dr. n. med. Elżbieta Puacz, President of the Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians
- Dr. Małgorzata Kępińska, OM KSLP delegate
- Dr. Maria Kozera, Board of the OM KSLP
[1] The National Health Fund has fined three medical facilities for hindering so-called abortions. The Pabianice Medical Center was fined PLN 250,000. The hospital in Lubartów must pay PLN 100,000, and the University Clinical Hospital in Wrocław PLN 300,000.
[2] http://kslpmazowsze.pl/2024/09/7-09-2024-stańsko-katolickich-spowiedzen-medicznych-wobec-proaborcyjne-wytyczne-ministra-zdrowie/.
[3] https://ordoiuris.pl/ochrona-zycia/analiza-wytyczne-w-spraw-obowiazujacych-przepisow-prawnych-dotyczacych-dostepu-do
