• 07/02/2023
• By wizewebsite
• 429 Views

We did everything right, we did not look at the abortion law, the Polish doctors defend after the death of a woman<

The case of the woman Agnieszka, who died this week, caused a big storm not only in Poland. The reason for the criticism was that doctors allegedly failed to abort a pregnant woman's second fetus just before Christmas after the first unborn child died in the womb. There is a lot of emotion surrounding the case, even in view of the great criticism directed at the new Polish law that prohibits the right to abortion.

Some media in connection with the application of the Polish anti-abortion law of a return to the Middle Ages and accuse doctors of refusing to perform an abortion for ideological reasons. However, the hospital itself and the experts defend the doctors' procedure, according to them there was no misconduct.

The death of 37-year-old Agnieszka from Černostochová is now being investigated by a specialized department of the prosecutor's office in Katowice. Emotions surrounding the case, which was supposed to be affected by one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, are now trying to calm down both the hospital itself, experts and, last but not least, some Polish media.

Agnieszka, who was in her first trimester and was expecting twins, complained of increasingly severe abdominal pain and vomiting last December 21 at the hospital in Czestochowa. But according to relatives, the doctors told her that this is normal in the case of a multiple pregnancy. However, on December 23, health workers discovered that one fetus had died. However, the family claims they did not allow the dead fetus to be removed from Agnieszka's body. According to the family's claims, the doctors waited for the vital functions of the second fetus to cease spontaneously. The doctors refuse this. According to them, there was hope to save the second fetus, which did not happen due to complications, and the abortion was subsequently carried out only after his death.

However, after the procedure, which took place on December 31, the woman felt increasingly worse during January and visited several hospitals. She had elevated CRP, which indicates inflammation or infection in the body. The hospital denies delaying the procedure because of the law banning abortions, as the family and some activists say. However, Agnieszka died on January 25.

Despite the uproar on the hospital's social networks and some more restrained media, the Polish media reports that Agnieszka did not die of complications after the removal of the fetuses and that the abortion was decided immediately after the death of the second child. In addition, the doctors performed a number of procedures before and after the abortion to help the patient, the hospital claims in a statement that Echo24 has at its disposal.

The doctors acted professionally correctly, says the expert

“After the death of the first child, on December 23, 2021, a wait-and-see attitude was adopted because there was a chance to save the second child. Despite the efforts of the doctors, the second fetus also died. It was immediately decided to terminate the pregnancy. Doctors began mechanical and pharmacological induction. Despite the above measures, there was no response and we had to perform an abortion on December 31,” the hospital said in an official statement obtained by Echo24.

Reserved in their articles are also some oppositionists and progressives who usually present themselves as great supporters of the right to abortion. Among them, for example, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. He stated, among other things, that there was no mention in the medical reports of sepsis, which, according to Agnieszka's family, should have caused her death. On the contrary, in the last days of her life, doctors discovered symptoms of an embolism and the woman tested positive for the coronavirus. Gradually, the woman's organs stopped working, on January 23 she was successfully resuscitated after a cardiac arrest, but she died two days later. If sepsis was to blame for the death, the paper is reticent in passing judgment, even considering that in such a case it would be more about negligence on the part of the doctors, rather than an intention not to carry out an abortion for ideological reasons.

Even the Strajk Kobiet movement (women's strike movement) blames the doctor for Agnieszka's death, but has so far refrained from protest actions, saying that the case is unclear and it is not clear to what extent the death was related to the previous abortion.

Some doctors and experts in prenatal development stood up for their colleagues from Černostochová. “If one of the twins dies, especially in the first trimester, we never remove it. Such are the world standards and the safest model of behavior for both the patient and the living fetus," said, for example, doctor and expert in perinatology Maciej W. Socha in an interview for OKO.press.

Statement of the hospital by newsroom on Scribd

“This pregnancy could not be terminated. I would not terminate her either, and in my opinion the medical procedure until the end of December, which was described in the hospital's statement, was fully justified and in accordance with science," says Socha, according to whom the law prohibiting abortion had no influence on the case. Socha's words are also confirmed other doctors.

Professor Krzysztof Czajkowski, Polish national consultant for gynecology and obstetrics, in an interview with the women's magazine Gazeta Wyborcza Wysokie Obcasy, admits that such CRP values ​​could indicate sepsis and should be cause for concern. At the same time, however, he calls for restraint in making judgments. "Today we know too little to decide what the cause of death was. More than three weeks passed between the demise of the fetus and the death of the patient. We don't know what happened during that time. Today we can only say that if one fetus dies in a twin pregnancy, it is not an indication for intervention and termination of the pregnancy," explains Professor Czajkowski.

The family also complained that the doctors refused to talk to her and issue a medical report. Even this was strongly rejected by the hospital. "Contact with the patient's family was maintained even after her arrival at the ward. Of course, the family had the opportunity to contact the patient," the hospital said in a statement available to Echo24. In this regard, the hospital took measures in accordance with the restrictions resulting from the pandemic, which helped the family to establish contact with the patient. We emphasize that the hospital staff took all possible and necessary measures aimed at saving the lives of the children and the patient," the hospital said.

The Polish Constitutional Court, which is dominated by judges appointed by the conservative ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, significantly restricted Poles' access to legal abortions in October 2020. Until then, they could undergo this procedure if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, if it threatened the life of the mother, and if doctors found severe, irreversible and incurable damage to the fetus. For the last reason, there were the most legal abortions, almost 1000 per year. According to the Constitutional Court, however, this very provision contradicted the Polish constitution, i.e. a woman must give birth even to a severely damaged child. In fear of punishment, according to the media, doctors prefer to refuse to perform an abortion even in cases where the mother's life is at risk.