The Ministry of Health announced amendments in the Act on Patient Rights and the Patient Rights Ombudsman Last week and in the Act on Emergency Notification System, To curb the so -called Charlatans – healers who feed on naivety or faith in the miracles of the sick and their families. Changes are already referred to as “lex charlatan”.
They assume, among others, that: a patient spokesperson for pseudo -tractics will be imposed on self -proclaimed healers up to PLN 1 million penalties. Pseudomedical practice will be, among others Sowing medical disinformation or no entry in the register of entities performing medical activities.
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The ministry also plans to prohibit the activities of providing health services by a person who does not perform a medical profession or the offering or use of methods that are attributed to the properties of a health service and which lead to health deterioration.
The failure to take or withdraw from scientifically proven diagnostic and treatment procedures.
“They feed on the life and health of Poles.” The act is to change this Katarzyna Górniak/Fakty TVN
Iga Children: Will what the Ministry of Health proposes help in the fight against charlatans?
Dr Mirosław Kiedrowski, internist, senior assistant to the Oncology Department of the National Medical Institute Of the Ministry of Interior and Administration head of the Palliative Department of the EWDOMED Stationary Hospice in Konstancin-Jeziorna: I really respect the good intentions of the proposed solutions, but in no country of the Western world such practices have been eliminated and our country will not be an exception. Basically, no one has the right to provide health services without authorization now. As I understand, this is to be clarified here, but it is legal redundancy that is undesirable.
Charlatans know what language to use and what reservations to put on their websites so as not to exceed the thin line. They will simply prove that their activities are not a health service. The threat of strict punishment will stop few, or the activity will go down to the underground more, so those willing will pay them even more than before. And in today's world there are plenty of ways to avoid such regulations. At the same time, you will have to engage considerable human and material resources to enforce a new law.
Mirosław Kiedrowski, MD tvn24.pl
It will be necessary to prove in the courtroom that the healer is to blame for the progression of the disease …
The record itself about “offering or using methods that are attributed to the properties of health service leading to health deterioration” will lead to equilibrium in courtrooms. Determining whether, and in what degree of deterioration, the use of paramedicine, delay in taking treatment, or whether it results from the progression of the disease as such – in specific cases is not easy.
The idea of entering strict penalties in the Act for active pulling away from proven methods seems correct, but will lead to the agonizing whether charlatans actively distract or only shared his skeptical opinion on conventional treatment. Although in certain situations (for example, evidence from emails) can actually lead to a conviction.
There is also the question of choosing the patient himself. Maybe he just wants to treat himself in this way. Who will prohibit him?
Well, that. My last doubt is very fundamental and affects the issue of personal freedom and freedom of speech. Personally, I think that people have the right not to trust doctors, not to take proven treatment, and even – which hurts me – believe in the effectiveness of unverified methods. The price of freedom is paid by the patient, or his loved ones. But it's not like taking a checked treatment will definitely prevent death. Most oncological patients in Poland are treated with palliative, i.e. without hope for permanent recovery from the disease. Their damage will consist in the inection of life, which could be extended, not its active shortening. And this is a big difference. Besides, since there is no right that would force people to undergo treatment in which they do not believe or do not want, can you say that they were “actively pulled away from proven methods”? Advocates will definitely have the medium.
How does the doctor look at the patient with the cancer?
The key is to determine what we are fighting with. What kind of cancer is, what is its initial advancement – this is what we usually determine on the basis of imaging tests, such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Individualisation is also important, and thus an insightful view of a given patient, at his general features, family history, molecular features of a specific cancer. In short: the key is an insightful interview, a physical examination, and the cancer must be recognized and described so that the patient can get the best possible treatment. Including very modern – for example, immunotherapy or molecular targeted drugs. For example, lung cancer is not one disease. This is only a very preliminary definition of the disease, which is later clarified in terms of subtypes, advancement, and various prognostic factors. The number of possible configurations of various parameters is impressive here, many factors do not yet know, and all this overlap the individual features of a particular patient, his nutritional condition, baggage of comorbidities, and mental structure.
On the one hand, there are few polishithized medical disciplines as oncology. It is within the complex algorithms that the doctor finds the most optimal path for his patient in the light of modern knowledge. On the other hand, treatment is highly individualized and even patients formally treated with the same method can get other doses of drugs, some drugs have periodically suspended. At the same time, the oncologist “learns” a specific patient and reacts adequately during treatment depending on the situation. We often learn before or during treatment that the patient has been treated or treated with unconventional methods.
Dr. Mirosław Kiedrowski with the EWDOMED Hospice Team tvn24.pl
Why are patients looking for help from miracle workers and charlatans?
I will throw a few pebbles into our medical garden. We often either have no skill, or we don't have time, and sometimes both to talk honestly about his illness. People are looking for help with charlatans, because they get time and attention, which they often do not get in the clinic, hospital or in the ward. The doctor is closed, even several dozen patients are waiting for him every day. And what is he asking about? For specifics. What hurts you, where, what are your accompanying diseases, whether you are allergic to something. He often does not see the patient yet, and already has several forms in his hand, which in the assumptions were to improve patient care, and in practice devour time.
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