The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the case of a doctor from the Radom Specialist Hospital at Tochtermana Street, who came to work under the influence of alcohol. The woman has now been released from the hospital.
As the spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Radom, Agnieszka Borkowska, announced on Monday, an investigation has been launched in the direction of Art. 160 pairs 2 of the Penal Code. Investigators will investigate whether the doctor, who appeared in the hospital drunk, put patients in immediate danger of loss of life or health. This offense is punishable by six months to five years in prison.
Article 160 § 1. Whoever exposes a person to the immediate danger of loss of life or serious damage to health, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years. to the age of 5. § 3. If the perpetrator of the act specified in § 1 or 2 acts unintentionally, he is subject to a fine, the penalty of restriction of liberty or imprisonment for a year. § 4. Is not punishable for the offense referred to in § 1-3, the perpetrator who voluntarily repealed the imminent danger. § 5. The prosecution of the offense specified in § 3 is at the request of the injured party.
More than two per mille in the body
As the spokesman for the Radom police, Staff Sergeant Kamil Warda, previously reported, a report about a drunk doctor staying in the Hospital Emergency Department was sent to the police on Wednesday morning via No. 112. – The policemen who arrived at the scene confirmed that the 30-year-old doctor is under the influence of alcohol . After the examination, it turned out that she had 2.3 per mille in her body – said Sgt. Ward.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said that preliminary findings indicate that the police were notified of the case by the hospital. – Doctors noticed that one of their colleagues may be intoxicated and the police were called to the hospital – procurator Borkowska said. The investigation is being conducted by the Radom-Wschód District Prosecutor’s Office.
“The responsible and quick response of the hospital staff deserves attention”
The spokesperson of the Radom Hospital, Elżbieta Cieślak, in a statement sent to PAP on Monday, noted that “the responsible and quick response of the hospital staff deserves attention.” “In a situation where the doctor’s behavior raised doubts, the hospital staff did not allow the doctor to work and referred her – as a patient – to the Hospital Emergency Department, where she was examined” – wrote Cieślak. She noted that the doctor did not start working in the ward, did not start duty, did not log into the system, was not allowed to work and had no contact with patients.
The spokeswoman also informed that the 30-year-old lost her job at the hospital at Tochtermana. ‘In the Radom Specialist Hospital there is no consent to this type of behavior, so the contract with the doctor will not be continued,’ announced Cieślak.
Similar cases in another hospital
This is not the first such case in Radom that uniformed officers were called to an intoxicated medic at work. At the turn of 2020 and 2021, similar situations occurred in the second clinic in Radom: the Mazowiecki Specialist Hospital. At that time, the duty officer of the police in Radom was informed that there was an intoxicated doctor in the Emergency Department of the hospital in Józefów.
Police officers found a 61-year-old medic at the scene, who – as it turned out after testing with a breathalyzer – had over 2.5 per mille of alcohol in his body. This is the second time that the same doctor has been caught drinking alcohol at work, but in both cases the prosecutor’s investigations were discontinued.
The first time the police intervened in 2018. The doctor was on duty at that time, having – as recently – 2.5 per mille of alcohol in the body. Then the hospital broke the contract with him, but after some time – due to staff shortages in the hospital emergency room – the medic returned to duty again. The case was then handled by the Radom prosecutor’s office.
In 2019, the investigation was discontinued. According to investigators, the doctor did not endanger the lives or health of patients. This was confirmed by an expert in the field of emergency medicine appointed during the investigation. According to her, the examinations ordered by the doctor and the treatment given to the patients who came to him on duty were correct. According to the investigators, the doctor’s action constituted a violation of work discipline, but was not subject to criminal liability.
They did not see patients at risk
Also the second time the medic got away. According to Agnieszka Borkowska, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Radom, a few months ago the prosecutor’s office again discontinued the investigation in connection with the doctor’s drunk duty in 2021. In this case, the experts appointed by the investigators also stated that both the diagnosis and the treatment of patients by the doctor were correct. It was not found that he exposed the patients to a threat to health or life. The only thing that was pointed out to him then was too perfunctory information in the medical records.
Main photo source: TVN24