President Karol Nawrocki on 19 August referred to the Constitutional Court the bill of 31 July 2026 on patient rights, called "Lex charlatan". He did not sign it in preventive control due to the fact that he questions the rules with penalties up to PLN 1 million and announces his own task against medical fraud.
President's Decision
The President's law firm informed on 20 August that Karol Nawrocki had decided the destiny of 3 laws the day before: 1 signed, 1 vetoed, and a bill on patient rights and a Patient Rights Ombudsman addressed to the TK. This is simply a decision in the preventive control mode, which is before signing under the law. In practice, this means stopping the entry into force of the rules until a constitutional decision is reached.
This decision fits well the way Karol Nawrocki wants to change the model of presidency. The president doesn't say that the state is expected to leave sick people alone with frauds. On the contrary. He claims that the goal is right, but the tools chosen by the government are besides broad and can besides hit legitimate entrepreneurs, herbalists, nutritionists or people active in complementary medicine.
That's the point of the argument. Poland needs protection of patients from cynical swindlers feeding on disease. Poland does not request a law written so widely that the authoritative is given a tool to strangle honest activities under the slogan of fighting pseudomedicine.
What was to change
The government adopted the task on 12 May 2026. As she explained Office of the Prime Minister, the fresh government was intended to strengthen the protection of patients against dangerous pseudomedical practices and those offering untested treatments. The Ombudsman for Patient Rights was to receive fresh competences, including the anticipation of conducting proceedings against entities operating without the required registration, issuing public warnings and ordering immediate cessation of activities in urgent cases.
By Patient Rights Ombudsman The task provided for penalties of up to PLN 1 million for violating collective rights of patients and up to PLN 100 1000 for non-cooperation with the Ombudsman. The government argued that it was about people impersonating specialists, promoting untested therapies and distracting patients from diagnostics and treatment consistent with current medical knowledge.
This problem is real. A sick man, a household in fear, a kid in request of treatment, a elder seeking aid after a dramatic diagnosis: these are situations where a cheater can sale false hope for real money. The State has a work to respond. It besides has a work not to produce laws that solve 1 problem, creating another.
Freedom is not an obstacle to patient protection
The president pointed out that the government has put in 1 category of genuinely dangerous practices and activities many legal entities operating in the health, nutrition, herbalism or welfare services market. If specified extended rules enter the system, the entrepreneur is not only afraid of unfair competition. He's getting frightened of the state.
To the Polish right, it is clear: protecting the sick does not require contempt for economical freedom. A strong state is not a state that gives all area of life the designation of an official. A strong state pursues fraud, wellness endangerment, extortion and impersonation of doctors. He doesn't go blind in legal services just due to the fact that the government wants to show hardness.
The same mechanics can be seen in wider dispute over the Constitutional Court. erstwhile the law becomes a political tool for demonstration, citizens pay the bill. erstwhile a patient. erstwhile an entrepreneur. Another time, a household that faces an office stronger than itself.
Now decision belongs to TK
Nawrocki announced his own legislative initiative against medical fraud, including changes to the Criminal Code and the Patient Rights Act. This is simply a more sensible direction: to hit abuse precisely, not to spill repressive law throughout the environment of legal wellness services.
The Constitutional Tribunal will decide whether the bill passed on 31 July can be signed in its current form. However, Poles should hear present the rule that was lacking in government propaganda: the protection of the patient and the freedom of the citizen are not on other sides. Good law can defend both.
Source: Office of the president of Poland, KPRM, Patient Rights Ombudsman, Interia.
Source: Warsaw in Pigulka
