Four thousand people working in Poland’s healthcare system have signed the “Declaration of Faith of Catholic Doctors”, which is clearly incompatible with the content of the medical oath, medical ethics and, above all, patients’ rights. The signatories of this “Declaration” publicly state that “natural law” is more important to them than Polish law and that they refuse to provide various forms of treatment deemed to constitute “a rejection of God, the Creator of the Universe”. Moreover, the signatories undertake to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of the Catholic Church instead of the patient’s wellbeing and medical knowledge.

This bizarre “Declaration” was created by the Catholic fundamentalist and associate of John Paul II, doctor Wanda Półtawska. The Declaration has been protested by many communities and social organizations, including women’s organizations. Unfortunately, the presence of this declaration created a climate in Poland that led to the deaths of women—patients in the healthcare system—who were denied treatment for reasons other than their wellbeing.

“Catholics may approach this idea with some reluctance, but they will immediately understand if it is explained to them that, if they end up with a Jehovah’s Witness doctor or paramedic, they will not receive a transfusion even if they need one, because that person’s conscience does not allow it,” says one of the women taking part in the campaign to collect signatures for the petition.

The campaign organizers are calling on the Minister of Health to take steps to remove this harmful and embarrassing “Declaration” from Polish public life and to:

  1. introduce procedures to eliminate the signatories of the “Declaration” from work in healthcare;
  2. introduce a requirement for the signatories of the “Declaration” to be clearly identified, so that patients have clear information about who has signed it;
  3. introduce procedures preventing people who openly declare that they refuse to provide medical services because of their private religious beliefs from entering the medical professions.

You can sign the Declaration at: Removing signatories of the “Declaration of Faith of Catholic Doctors” from the profession

The organizers are also raising money through a fundraiser. It will be needed for:

  • preparing informational materials concerning the Declaration;
  • professional legal representation in the legal proceedings;
  • the statutory activities of the emerging Inicjatywa Association.

If you want to support the fundraiser, you can do so at: zrzutka.pl/78e4mt