Physician demands apology from health minister over personal rights violation

Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski on Friday (August 5) publicly disclosed that Dr Piotr Pisula, a neurosurgeon working at Poznań City Hospital, had prescribed a certain type of medicine to himself. The previous day, on Thursday, Dr Pisula was quoted by "Fakty" TVN in a material devoted to the problems of patients who had lost access to prescriptions.

As the minister also publicly stated the name of the doctor, he is now facing a wave of criticism from various medical professional organizations, such as the Supreme Medical Chamber, whose chairman Łukasz Jankowski said in a letter that "the medical community has lost confidence in Mr Niedzielski" and as a result he "renders further cooperation impossible".

Minister Niedzielski said he had acted "in defence of the good name of the Health Ministry, but most importantly, in defence of the interest of the patient". In his opinion, "no regulations whatsoever have been violated".

Dr Pisula announced in a statement posted on the X platform (formely known as Twitter) on Monday he has filed a pre-trial call addressed to Niedzielski, demanding "the effects of personal rights violation be remedied".

The physician also demanded the minister publish an apology on the X platform and donate 100,000 zlotys (approx. 22,600 euros) to the Poznań branch of the Polish Association for Palliative Care (PTOP).

Furthermore, Piotr Pisula prepared the exact text of the expected apology, urging the minister to issue it within the next 48 hours, if he wanted to avoid lawsuit.

He finally added that the minister's "unlawful conduct" have caused Niedzielski to lose "the confidence needed to carry out the profession of doctor".

At a press conference on Monday, the Health Ministry spokesperson Wojciech Andrusiewicz was asked about the pre-trial measures taken by Dr Pisula.

"We are within law, the health minister is within law. If anyone in this country holds any grudge against someone, and claims they have violated their rights, violated their interest, they have the right to file a case in court," he replied. "We are confident about any case that is directed to court of prosecutor's office. We are open, we are waiting for this kind of information. Our lawyers have certainly prepared an opinion by now, which has been there even before the health minister informed about it, so we are waiting patiently," Andrusiewicz added.

Piotr Pisula commented in TVN24 on the accusations addressed to him by the health minister.

"On Wednesday, when the problem with issuing prescriptions occurred, which occurred at my, but also other wards of my hospital, I worked a shift. In the morning I was at the operation block, and in the afternoon I tried to issue prescriptions to patients who were to be discharged the following day. My colleagues at the ward could not issue these prescriptions. On Thursday morning I spoke that I couldn't issue those prescriptions. Only after did I issue this prescription to myself," he explained. "Calling me a liar is absolutely unfounded," he stressed.

The doctor added he was shocked to find that the health minister himself had "violated such a fundamental rule that people's medical records are confidential".

"I feel very aggrieved in this situation, I feel I've been somewhat smeared, in fact in the health minister's private interest and by using my private information, my surname, the place I work at. What is more, there was also information that those were psychotropic drugs and painkillers," Dr Pisula said.

He added he felt it was his duty as a citizen to use "legal instruments" in this case.