Judgment regarding the death of a child in a hospital in Białystok. Doctor convicted

The doctor is also to pay the child's parents PLN 50,000 each as compensation. The Białystok court also obliged him to apologize to them by sending an appropriate letter to their legal representative, who was an auxiliary prosecutor.

The defense does not rule out an appeal

The defense wanted acquittal, but does not rule out an appeal. The accused, a 76-year-old doctor, is a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics. He is retired but still works as a doctor.

Investigators accused the man that in March 2023, while on duty at the provincial hospital in Białystok as a specialist who was responsible for caring for a 23-year-old patient in the 41st week of pregnancy (after the scheduled delivery date) and for her unborn child, he unintentionally exposed the child to a direct threat of loss of life or health.

The charges also included unintentional manslaughter. In the investigators' opinion, the doctor did not provide the patient with appropriate medical assistance. He allegedly did not sufficiently monitor the well-being of the fetus and incorrectly assessed the CTG examination record. He refrained from terminating the pregnancy immediately, despite the existence of absolute grounds for terminating it, resulting from the threat to the life and health of the unborn child.

The Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok accused the accused of failing to closely observe the woman giving birth and of not exercising "sufficient or appropriate supervision" over the well-being of the unborn child by incorrectly recommending disconnecting the patient from the CTG recording and recommending monitoring the fetal heart rate every two hours only using a detector, which consequently led to the unintentional death of the child.

The court announced the verdict

On Monday, the Białystok district court closed the court proceedings, the parties made their closing arguments and the first-instance judgment was announced. The ruling is almost entirely consistent with the prosecutor's request, which was also supported by the representative of the subsidiary prosecutors.

Justifying the sentence, Judge Piotr Markowski said that there was no doubt that the accused was responsible for the patients in the ward during the duty to which the allegations relate. As he said, even if there were any shortcomings or shortcomings in this ward, it did not release the accused from the responsibility resulting from the fact that he was the doctor on duty.

The expert opinion - the key evidence in this case - was found by the court to be complete and free from any contradictions or doubts. The defendant's responsibility in the light of the evidence is clear and evident, said Judge Markowski. Referring, among others, to: to professional literature, he also said that the solution in this situation was a cesarean section.

When this trial began over a year ago, the accused gynecologist told the court that although he was retired, he still practiced.