Is Poland violating human rights?

Written and published January 17/2025, By Marta Koblańska, Photo: Daniel Reche, Pixabay

One of the Polish top psychiatric hospital in Lodz, central Poland, unabled a parcel delivery to its patient demanding an entry fee from services provider. The parcel had been left though in the Polish Post office, just ten blocks from the hospital.

On January 11 2025, a member of a family of disabled patient of Szpital Babińskiego in Lodz, Aleksandrowska 159 street, being on bensodiazepine cut off asked Polish Post to deliver a parcel to him. The parcel included some food, coffee, cigarettes which can alleviate suffering due to bensodiazepine cutt off as well as apples giving much help for patients treated with psychiatric medicines. Standard parcel with medium weight dispatched with Pocztex from Warsaw to Łodz is around 20 PLN. But Polish Post offered extra a 15 PLN delivery service for designated date. Having in mind the kindness of a courier delivering previous parcel to the same patient and the same hospital, this service has been paid. The delivery date has been set for Monday, January 13 as Sunday is a day free from work despite the transport to Łodź took place yet on Saturday.

Monday came and the parcel has been found in Aleksandrowska 149 instead of 159 street with the information left for the receiver it is possible to collect at Polish Post office. The patient, the parcel was addressed to, obviously could no go to the post office and collect it due to his health condition and rules applied in the hospital. The sender asked the hospital personnel to collect the parcel for the patient/recipient as it could not have been delivered directly due to entry fee. The courier stated he would have to pay himself the fee or the hospital would have charged the patient. The fact of payment the delivery date service by the sender of the parcel should secure the parcel receival. But this has not been performed and did not happen.

What Polish hospitals are dedicated to?

Instead of collection of the parcel for the patient, the sender received Wednesday, January 15 a furious phone call from the chief of the hospital division to which the patient was assigned to. The chief was touched with the email with a request to collect the parcel for patient. The doctor strongly underlined the legal obligation of a hospital is patients’ treatment not collection of parcels. He added though after making sure the sender is aware how hospitals function in Poland, that demand from hospital a parcel tracking is not exactly what they provide. The sender managed to explain to the doctor the case though has not been the tracking but collection after the hospital required fees for entry. The doctor denied obligatory entry fees and the next day the patient has been released from the hospital. The parcel remained at the post office. The patient is located now in a dedicated centre in Łódź further asking for cigarettes and fruits to relief effects of breaking addiction to bensodiazepines. These are the most difficult to cancel from the list of medications prescribed for a psychitric patient and require a strong medical knowledge and the knowledge of brain functioning to do so.

Just to recall. Receiving a parcel is a patient right. The parcel to hospital or jail is one of basic human rights as everyone is equal to own property. A dedicated parcel may be an example of that.

Editor’s note: Due to technical issues the post originally numbered 173 under title ,,The key for domestication. Humans’ capability or plant’s domesticability?” published on January 15/2025 became post 224 while the post published on January 17/2025 with the title ,, Is Poland violating human rights? has been numbered 173. I am sorry for inconvenience.