In the Sunday edition of "Państwo w Państwie", journalists recounted the story of a married couple from Pruszków, located in the Masovian Voivodeship. At the end of 2018, on the second day of Christmas, Andrzej Pasek began feeling unwell. His wife Eliza called an ambulance.
Masovian Voivodeship: He Was Supposed to Be an Organ Donor, But His Wife Challenged the Doctor's Diagnosis
The attending doctor concluded that the man had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. The ambulance took him to the Railway Hospital in Pruszków. "My husband was conscious, but he was slowly losing consciousness. Around 3:00 p.m., the head doctor informed me that there had been bleeding from a brain tumor. I had not previously been informed that my husband had a tumor," Eliza Pasek told the journalists.
For two days, Andrzej Pasek was in the Intensive Care Unit, connected to life support. On December 28, 2018, a doctor reportedly declared brain death.
The doctor called me and said there was still a chance for me to help other people. That if I agreed to donate my husband's organs, many people would be grateful to me. I remember how he explained it to me, saying it was like donating blood. That there is low public awareness, that people don’t realize how necessary it is to donate organs
- the woman recounted.
Masovian Voivodeship: "Some Procedures Are Simply Underdeveloped"
After 40 minutes of conversation, Eliza decided to transfer her husband to another hospital. Andrzej was taken to the Ministry of Interior and Administration Hospital (MSWiA) in Warsaw. The doctors there did not confirm the previous diagnosis of brain death. Instead, they performed surgery.
Two days later, the family regained contact with him. Nearly six years later, the man is functioning independently, though he still has vision and mobility issues. He also has questions about why the doctor in Pruszków declared brain death and "pressed his wife to donate his organs for transplantation" - as reported in the program.
Some procedures are simply underdeveloped, and I’m probably the best example of that. Someone could be sentenced to death, because if they had taken my organs, that would have been the end
- Andrzej Pasek stated in the program. His family filed a report with the prosecutor's office regarding the potential commission of a crime, including exposing him to immediate danger of life and health. The case was dismissed.
Under Polish law, every deceased person is a potential organ donor unless they expressed opposition during their lifetime.
