The case of irregularities at Warsaw’s Southern Hospital has shaken public opinion. In the background are accusations that Civic Coalition politicians were admitted out of turn, reports of multimillion-PLN earnings by a young doctor and councillor, and, most seriously, suggestions that mistakes in the emergency department may have resulted in patients’ deaths. TV Republika CEO Tomasz Sakiewicz has described it as “the biggest scandal in history” that he has encountered as a journalist.
The starting point of the entire affair is a series of reports concerning Dawid Kacprzyk, the coordinator of the Emergency Department at Southern Hospital and, at the same time, a Civic Coalition councillor for Warsaw’s Ursus district. According to the reports, while undergoing specialist training in anaesthesiology, he allegedly earned PLN 1.6 million last year in medical facilities.
According to journalists’ findings, Civic Coalition politicians were allegedly admitted without waiting in line at the department he headed, while comprehensive examinations were reportedly carried out almost immediately after registration, in the so-called “VIP lounge.”
The case has taken on a particularly serious dimension following statements made by Emil Jędrzejewski, the former head of the surgical department at Southern Hospital. The doctor is being questioned by the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office after giving an interview to Kanał Zero. In it, he stated, among other things, that medical procedures at Southern Hospital’s emergency department had been carried out improperly. According to him, medical errors led to complications that, in some cases, allegedly resulted in patients’ deaths.
Sakiewicz: “There has never been anything like this before”
TV Republika CEO Tomasz Sakiewicz has commented strongly on the case, announcing that his station will follow it closely.
“The hospital scandal, that is, the way this scandal is being handled by the Polish authorities, is probably the biggest scandal in history that I, as a journalist, have ever dealt with,”
Sakiewicz said.
The head of TV Republika also pointed to the most serious aspect of the case. “We are dealing with the deaths of patients. There are probably doubts concerning the deaths of around 20 patients,” he stated, adding:
“Stay with us, we will investigate this. We will keep reporting on it; TV Republika will be talking about it non-stop. We are dealing with something that has never happened before in the history of journalism.”