Zbigniew Konwiński, head of the Civic Coalition (KO) parliamentary caucus, said on Monday that the party leadership had voted to remove Senator Tomasz Lenz from both the party and its parliamentary group.
Konwiński told broadcaster Polsat News the decision was made by circulating a motion among party leadership members, "on the recommendation of the party chairman," referring to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
He said the move amounted to the most severe decision the party could take against the senator.
The case concerns a medical procedure performed on March 15 at a hospital in Aleksandrów Kujawski, in north-central Poland.
The Wirtualna Polska news website reported that the procedure, involving Lenz's son, had been carried out outside the standard National Health Fund (NFZ) queue and with the participation of senior doctors who were on duty in separate hospital departments at the time.
The NFZ, which finances public healthcare, later inspected the hospital and imposed a PLN 134,000 (EUR 31,500, EUR 36,000) fine. The hospital has 14 days to appeal.
Barbara Nawrocka, spokeswoman for the regional branch of the NFZ in Kujawy-Pomerania province, said the inspection found that the hospital had failed to provide proper round-the-clock medical care in its general and oncological surgery ward and in its anesthesiology and intensive care ward on March 15.
She said the problem arose because the only doctors on duty in those wards provided a service outside the publicly funded healthcare system while they were on duty.
Konwiński said the hospital incident involving Lenz had damaged the party's image.
“We know how this was received by our voters,” he said. Asked whether the Civic Coalition or Lenz would help the hospital pay the fine, Konwiński said consequences should be borne by those who made decisions in the case.
He added that the party had acted after the NFZ inspection results by taking the strongest possible step against the senator.
Lenz earlier said he was at the “full disposal” of Civic Coalition authorities to explain the matter and would accept any decision on his membership.
In an April 7 statement, he said the procedure involving his son had been performed in hospital conditions by doctors on duty that day, with proper medical procedures observed.
In a later online statement, Lenz and his wife said the documentation concerning the procedure on their 13-year-old child was in the possession of the parents, NFZ inspectors and the Regional Medical Chamber in the city of Toruń.
They accused the hospital director of spreading claims in the media that the hospital did not have the documentation and filed a notice with prosecutors alleging a possible crime.
Hospital director Mariusz Trojanowski said on Wednesday that the findings of the hospital’s internal commission matched those of the NFZ.
“This shows that Mr. Lenz’s version is not reflected in reality,” he said.
Trojanowski earlier said the internal commission had uncovered a document that had been "altered or supplemented." He said this concerned the ward’s doctors’ logbook, where the procedure was manually recorded on an attached page.
The case is now also being examined by prosecutors.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP