Adam Niedzielski, who served as health minister in Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) government from 2020 to 2023, has been charged by prosecutors over an incident in which he released the private medical information of a doctor who had criticised new regulations introduced by the minister.
If found guilty, Niedzielski could face up to three years in prison for abusing his powers by publishing the information, which included the fact that the doctor had prescribed himself mental-health medication.
Adam Niedzielski, były minister zdrowia, usłyszał prokuratorski zarzut przekroczenia uprawnień.https://t.co/vr9FaTMGjL
— tvn24 (@tvn24) May 28, 2024
“The proceedings concern the abuse of power by a public official in the person of the health minister through the unlawful processing of personal data regarding the health of an identified person by revealing [the data] via mass media in an entry on internet portal X,” announced prosecutors in Warsaw.
By doing so, Niedzielski had “[acted] to the detriment of the private interest of a private person”, they added, noting that notifications of a suspected crime by the minister had been submitted by, among others, Poland’s Supreme Medical Chamber.
Niedzielski (who has waived his right to have his surname and image anonymised) maintains his innocence. He told broadcaster RMF that he will not comment publicly and is “calmly waiting for the conclusion of the case in court”.
Poland's health minister disclosed the type of drugs a doctor prescribed to himself, after the doctor spoke up about problems following new regulations.
The doctor is demanding a public apology from the minister and 100,000 zloty (€22,600) for a hospice.https://t.co/l8aFTjv3SV
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 7, 2023
Last August, Niedzielski published a post on X (then known as Twitter) in which he responded to criticism by a doctor of changes introduced by the health ministry that restricted doctors’ ability to issue digital prescriptions.
Niedzielski accused the doctor of telling “lies” to the media regarding the new system and noted that “the doctor issued a prescription for a psychotropic and painkiller drug to himself yesterday”. He included the doctor’s full name in his tweet.
His actions were widely criticised by figures from the medical and legal communities. Niedzielski resigned as health minister shortly afterwards and in December the health ministry was fined 100,000 zloty – the maximum possible penalty – by Poland’s data protection agency.
Poland’s health ministry has been given the maximum possible fine for disclosing the private health information of a doctor who had criticised new regulations.
The incident, which took place under the former government, led the health minister to resign https://t.co/9rWDWUp61v
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 27, 2023
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Main image credit: KRPM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 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.
