In the Ujastek hospital in Krakow, patients were secretly recorded. The management writes about “higher necessity”

We ask young mothers unrelated to the case of the Ujastek hospital from Krakow at the other end of Poland, in Szczecin. – Breastfeeding is a natural thing, but not from cameras, especially in the hospital still hidden – indicates Mrs. Julia. “I would feel very cheated by such a hospital and lose my trust in such a place at all,” says Ada.

The President of the Office for Personal Data Protection imposed on the obstetrics and gynecological hospital in a total of over a million PLN 145,000 for the installation of hidden cameras, which neither patients or employees, and the loss of memory cards with recordings from two rooms of the neonatology department did not know, and the loss of memory cards.

The facility itself informed about the irregularities. – The Medical Center has introduced monitoring in the form of two cameras hidden in clocks at the neonatology department – says Karol Witowski, spokesman for the Personal Data Protection Office.

– When we are after delivery, this is the moment when we experience many different situations related to our body, we breastfeed, there is a nave of milk, milk flows out very often, we need to change lactation insoles, our breasts are often exposed – says Joanna Pietrusiewicz, President of the Foundation Humanly.

What situations were recorded there – it is not known exactly. The Office for Personal Data Protection informs that “monitoring was recorded by a picture showing both newborns and their mothers during intimate activities, including such as feeding children or their care.”

– It has long been found that the child is also protected by intimacy and the child's body cannot be exposed – notes Dorota Karkowska, legal advisor.

– If someone decided to install the camera, they should say, inform patients, inform employees – indicates Dr. Paweł Litwiński, a lawyer, member of a team of experts at the Personal Data Protection Office.

In the statement of the management and management of the hospital we read that monitoring was placed in the rooms of intensive care and pathology of the newborn because of the need for quick action to protect the life and health of premature babies and it was a state of higher necessity.

The Personal Data Protection Office reports that children whose image was recorded no longer required intensive care. In an email from the Office of the Patient Rights Ombudsman, we read that what happened in the Krakow hospital, with legal medical monitoring had nothing to do, that it was secret registration of the patient, also during intimate activities.

– We feed in different places, but then this is our decision and we try to do it so that there is no camera set on us – says Ada.

The equipment placed in the hospital recorded the image and sound in the period from 1 to 23 July 2023, and memory cards were not encrypted. – They contained data of 190 people, including children, patients' parents and staff – informs Karol Witowski.

Read also: There were hidden cameras in the hospital, there is a punishment

– In a situation where these recordings were lost, the harm on the side of the recorded people is even greater, because it is not known who finally gained access to these recordings – indicates Paweł Litwiński.

The prosecutor's office discontinued the investigation in this case because of the fact that the perpetrator was not detected, but civil lawsuits for violating the image or the right to intimacy and dignity are something completely different.

– Art. 82 of the GDPR provides a direct possibility of suing a hospital, this institution that recorded these paintings and then lost them, suing to compensation – cites Paweł Litwiński.

The hospital announces that it will appeal against the financial penalty imposed by UODO.