Open letter supporting the activities and attitude of Agnieszka Chrobak, Ph.D., Eng.
Director of the A. Falkiewicz Specialist Hospital in Wrocław,
Government Plenipotentiary for Demographic Policy
In the face of unjustified accusations, attack and deprivation of her job Agnieszka Chrobak, PhD, Eng., we announce that we are full of appreciation for the actions of the Director of the A. Falkiewicz Specialist Hospital in Wrocław, under whose leadership the hospital is developing excellently and raising the standards of perinatal care, and the presence of relics in the hospital chapel spiritually supports the hospital staff and many patients.
After taking over the position of the director of the hospital, Agnieszka Chrobak, PhD, Eng., made many changes beneficial to patients. The quality of perinatal care has improved and the Hospital has become one of the most frequently chosen hospitals in Wrocław by parents expecting the birth of a child. It is the eighth hospital in Poland in terms of the number of births. It treats pregnant patients in various conditions, including complicated pregnancies, when the lives of mothers and their children are at risk. Everything is done in accordance with current medical knowledge and applicable law. Women are under the comprehensive care of both a doctor and a community midwife. The Director also took action to transform the largest gynaecology and obstetrics ward in Lower Silesia into a Model Center for Procreative Health and to help infertile couples in their difficulties with conceiving and giving birth to a child. The project is based on the ecology of the family as seen by Prof. Włodzimierz Fijałkowski,[1] an outstanding Polish gynaecologist who developed the scientific foundations of parenting in accordance with nature
The Director has extensive competences being a doctor of natural sciences, engineer, graduate of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, and a long-term researcher at the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław. She is the author of numerous scientific publications in the field of infertility and etiopathogenesis of endometriosis. He is responsible for coordinating activities for infertile couples and patients with endometriosis, he is the president of the Institute of Natural Family Planning according to the Professor Roetzer method, a member of the Family Council at the Lower Silesian Voivode, a member of the Polish Family Council.
The hospital chapel is an important place that is legally present in most hospitals in Poland. It is very much needed in the spiritual care of patients. There is no ban on keeping relics in the hospital chapel and their presence is a spiritual support for many patients, helping to improve their somatic health. Every patient has the right to spiritual care and the possibility of using the hospital chapel equipped with relics is part of it.
A misunderstanding is the compulsion to perform abortion in a hospital that is supposed to serve human health and life and is a Center for Procreative Health, including infertility treatment. Killing conceived children will undermine trust in medical personnel by couples trying to have children. We believe that forcing the Hospital to perform abortion on the basis of a certificate issued by one psychiatrist after a single visit, under the threat of termination of the contract with the National Health Fund or dismissal of the Hospital Director is an action contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the freedom of conscience. It is also an unreasonable action, because it may lead to the loss of the Hospital by the city of Wrocław, which contributes to the improvement of the reproductive health of its inhabitants and has found well-deserved recognition in their eyes.
It is incomprehensible to us that the organs supervising the Hospital are disturbed by the presence of relics of the Blessed Ulma Family or Blessed Father Jerzy Popiełuszko. For many people from the Hospital staff, these relics are a support in their hard work, and for women with infertility and mothers with various pregnancy complications, they provide spiritual support.
The family of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma with their seven small children was murdered by the Nazis in 1944 for giving shelter to Polish Jews. It is the heroic attitude of supporting those in need whose lives are endangered that is worth following.
The Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship has no information that the director Agnieszka Chrobak manifested her religious views during the current operation of the hospital. We should support women and couples expecting conception, both psychologically, professionally, medically and spiritually, relics are helpful in this.
We strongly disagree with the obvious persecution and dismissal of Director Agnieszka Chrobak. The gigantic effort which she put into creating a modern centre of care for mothers and their children in Wrocław, its design, alteration of interiors, employment and training of new staff, purchase of equipment and furnishings, creating an atmosphere of authentic care for human life from the moment of conception cannot be wasted. We are convinced that her activities and attitudes serving the health of mothers and children should be popularized and not punished.
We would like to thank the Director for creating a modern causal centre for infertility treatment, thanks to which many families have successfully conceived their offspring, for providing appropriate conditions and the right atmosphere for the safe birth of their children.
We cordially greet the Director on behalf of the Catholic Medical Associations
Elżbieta Kortyczko, MD, PhD, President of the Catholic Association of Polish Doctors (KSLP)
Prof. Bogdan Chazan, Vice-President of KSLP
Prof. Jerzy Jurkiewicz, Chairman of the KSLP Peer Court
Grażyna Rybak, PhD, President of the Mazovian Branch of KSLP (OM KSLP)
Andrzej Niemirski, PhD, President of the Radom Branch of KSLP
Tadeusz Wadas, PhD, President of the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses and Midwives
Ph.D. theologian. Małgorzata Prusak, MA, President of the Association of Catholic Pharmacists of Polish
Elżbieta Puacz, MD, PhD, President of the Catholic Association of Laboratory Diagnosticians
MD, PhD Małgorzata Kępińska, delegate of OM KSLP
Maria Kozera, PhD, Board of OM KSLP
Stanisław Nitek, MD, PhD. OM KSLP
[1] Prof. Włodzimierz Fijałkowski (1917-2003) was a Polish physician, specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics, who worked in hospitals in Gdańsk, Wrocław, and Bystrzyca Kłodzka. The creator of the first birthing school developed the Polish Model of the Birthing School and implemented it throughout the country, training a very large staff of professionals for several decades. Thanks to the professor’s initiative, the first hospital births with the participation of the father took place (1983) and the practice of natural and family births became popular.
