In the audience, there were more than 200 students from XXIV Cyprian Norwid General Secondary School in Warsaw, as well as the Faculty of Health Sciences students specializing in the field of nursing, obstetrics and public health, together with their teachers. Among the meeting participants, there was prof. Mariusz Gujski, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as lawyers, physicians, legal counsels, representatives of the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists. The event was hosted by prof. Aleksandra Czerw, head of the Health Economics and Medical Law Department of WUM Faculty of Health Sciences.
The case of Marlena K.
The mock trial was prepared on the basis of a real trial. The physician on trial (she is named Marlena Kowalska for the purposes of the simulation) is a resident doctor at a Ward of a Children’s Hospital in Warsaw. She was charged with malpractice in the process of treatment of a two-year-old patient and with exposing a child to loss of life or health detriment. In reality, the lawsuit ended with a final judgment by the Supreme Court.
All the phases of a real-life lawsuit could be observed during the mock trial, such as: indictment, hearing of witnesses, prosecutor speech, defense attorney speech, and the final ruling. We should emphasize that all the actors played their roles perfectly, including members of the judges panel, the defendant, the aggrieved party, the witnesses, etc.
Paweł Strzelec, attorney at law, as well as Dr. Grzegorz Wrona, Aleksandra Gil and Natalia Cieślińska from the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, and members of the Medical Law Study Group were present at the mock trial.
Not just simulation
After the judgment, a debate followed about the mock trial. It caused a lot of emotions and the whole event was extremely popular.
It should be noted that the meeting was a starting point for a closer collaboration between the Faculty of Health Sciences and the XXIV Cyprian Norwid General Secondary School in Warsaw. Before the mock trial started, prof. Mariusz Gujski with prof. Aleksandra Czerw were encouraging the high school students to start their university studies at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Among the speakers, there was Dr. Anna Augustynowicz, PhD hab., supervisor of the WUM Medical Law Study Group, who presented more details to the audience on the matter of physicians’ liability and rights of patients.
The mock trial was organized on November 23 by the team of the Health Economics and Medical Law Department at WUM Faculty of Health Sciences and the WUM Medical Law Study Group, in collaboration with the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists.
