A pregnant woman has died after having to carry a dead foetus in her womb for over a week. The hospital at which she was treated denies wrongdoing, but prosecutors have launched an investigation and activists blame the death on Poland’s near-total abortion ban that came into force last year.
A similar case last autumn, when a pregnant woman died after doctors refused to terminate her foetus despite it being diagnosed with fatal birth defects, prompted mass protests against the abortion law. Similar demonstrations are now again being planned for today.
News of the latest death – of a 37-year-old, named only as Agnieszka, who is survived by a husband and three children – was announced last night by the family on social media.
They blamed the hospital for the tragedy, saying Agnieszka had been forced to carry a dead foetus for seven days because doctors did not want to remove it for fear of harming its twin. The twin subsequently also died, and both foetuses were removed two days later.
The hospital then called in a priest to conduct a funeral for them, according to the family. But Agnieszka herself subsequently fell ill, with what her family believe was sepsis, a life-threatening response by the body to infection. After later being transferred to a different hospital, she died soon after.
“We appeal for justice and redress for the death of our wife, mother, sister and friend,” wrote her family in their appeal. “This is further evidence that the government has blood on its hands.”
This afternoon, the hospital that had initially treated Agnieszka confirmed the circumstances of her and her foetuses’ deaths. “After the death of the first child (on 23 December 2021), a wait-and-see approach was adopted as there was a chance to save the second child,” it said in a statement issued to Onet.
“Despite the doctors’ efforts, the second foetus died as well,” it continued. “A decision was then immediately made to terminate the pregnancy…[and] on 31 December it became possible to perform a miscarriage under general anaesthesia.”
Subsequently, after Agnieszka fell ill, “our doctors took all the necessary diagnostic and therapeutic measures, but unfortunately, the patient’s condition made it impossible to save her life”, wrote the hospital, which noted she tested positive for coronavirus on 23 January. She died yesterday, 25 January.
The hospital concluded its statement by saying that it had “taken all possible and required actions to save the lives of the children and the patient” and that “doctors’ behaviour was not influenced by anything else other than medical considerations and care for the patient and her children”.
"Thanks to the abortion law, there's nothing they can do," a woman texted her mother shortly before she died in hospital after doctors waited for the death of her foetus, which had birth defects.
Many blame her death on Poland’s near-total abortion ban https://t.co/5hQss5UVTI
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 4, 2021
The prosecutors’ office in the city of Częstochowa, where the events took place, today announced that it had opened an investigation into two potential crimes: exposing a patient to the risk of losing their life, and manslaughter.
Prosecutors would interview family members and hospital staff, as well as secure medical documentation and the results of a post-mortem, said spokesman Tomasz Ozimek, quoted by Wirtualna Polska.
Activists believe that the near-total abortion ban introduced at the start of last year has made doctors reluctant to carry out terminations for fear of prosecution. In many cases, they argue, this has resulted threats to the health and even lives of pregnant women.
Protests are already being organised this evening in cities throughout Poland under the title “Not a single one more”, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. The same slogan was used during last autumn’s protests.
Conservative supporters of the abortion restrictions respond that, even in its new tightened form, the law explicitly allows terminations to be carried out if the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother. They argue that, when tragedies such as these happen, it is the result of medical error, not the law.
One of Poland’s leading anti-abortion campaigners, Kaja Godek, today accused pro-choice activists of “once again preying on tragedy” by “instrumentalising the death of a pregnant woman for their political stratagems and pro-abortion campaigns”.
After the similar case of a woman, Iza, who died last year, an investigation attributed her death to medical error. In response, the health ministry issued instructions to hospitals on how to act in such cases.
Main image credit: Grzegorz Celejewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
