- I work at least 10 hours a day. My patients are within 50 km. I have patient visits registered every day. If I have a report and have to certify the death, I waste at least 3 hours. This is the time taken from living patients - estimates Małgorzata Stokowska-Wojda, from the Lublin Association of Family Doctors of Employers, PZ expert.
The Coroners Act: There will be a problem for the living and the dead
Published Jan. 17, 2022 09:54
The new law is assessed in the same way by Dr. Agata Sławin, vice president of the Lower Silesian Association of Family Doctors - Employers, PZ expert.
- Old records need to be changed and it's good that there is finally a chance for it. However, it cannot be as in the design. Because the new act only complicates the matter. There will be a problem for the living and the dead. It has to be separated - he explains.
Everything seems to indicate that the new regulations will not only not help, but also make it difficult for doctors to work and for patients to live. Medics have been waiting for new regulations for ... several decades.
The new document is to replace the law on cemeteries and the burial of the dead of ... 1959. Then there were different conditions, different legal and organizational reality. The provisions from over 60 years ago are probably the oldest law in Poland. Not to mention the fact that it is absolutely inconsistent with the reality of 2022. But the new rules raise more doubts.
Because it is a GP, no matter how many registered patients are waiting for him in the corridor of the clinic, he has to leave them and go to confirm their death.
If this happens in large clinics, there is a chance that another doctor will replace the absent one. But in many places in Poland, POZ clinics are small, only 1-2 people, and there is no point in replacing them there. So the doctor leaves the living in the clinic and goes to the ... dead.
It is estimated that there are approximately 150,000 jobs in Poland each year. deaths of the so-called home and only 20 thousand. unexpected, in public places. The coroner, who should be appointed by the starost, will only deal with these 20 thousand. deaths. The rest will go to family doctors. And they say straightforwardly:
- We should look after the living, the coroner - the dead. Otherwise, the provisions will complicate life for everyone - says Andrzej Zapaśnik, vice-president of the Pomeranian Association of Healthcare Employers, PZ expert.
And gives an example. Three deaths were reported to the doctor recently, and there was no physician who met the criteria. And they are complicated and in practice it is difficult to fulfill all of them.
- The more so because due to the nature of our activity, we are not organizationally prepared to travel to the patient's home beyond the hours of home visits specified in the clinic's work schedule. In the remaining time, doctors provide advice on the premises of the clinic and are not able to stop their duties and deal with death "on command" - explains Andrzej Zapaśnik, vice president of the Pomeranian Association of Healthcare Employers, PZ expert.
It is also important that primary care physicians are not sufficiently knowledgeable in forensics and in judging whether the cause of death is natural or not. Therefore, such situations should be reported to the coroner.
The law does not provide for a family doctor to reconcile his obligations towards living and deceased patients. The act in this form only complicates the already difficult situation. And it will hit GPs, the patients themselves, and the families of the dead.
Source: Zielona Góra Agreement Federation
