Pseudo-medicine in the crosshairs. Doctors want penalties for quackery, NRL appeals to Ministry of Health

Will an administrative financial penalty be enough to stop pseudo-medical practices that can cost a patient their health – and sometimes their life? The Supreme Medical Council (SMC) has serious doubts about this. In its latest position, it appeals: only criminal liability will be able to effectively stop the wave of quackery masquerading as medicine.

This is a draft amendment to the Act on Patient Rights and the Patient Rights Ombudsman , prepared by the Ministry of Health . It assumes, among other things, defining and prohibiting pseudo-medical practices as activities harmful to public health. The draft gives the Patient Rights Ombudsman (RPP) new powers: the ability to recognize a practice as pseudo-medical, order its cessation and impose a fine - even up to one million zlotys .

However, according to doctors, this is not enough.

In its position, the NRL clearly emphasises that people conducting pseudo-medical practices should bear full criminal liability – especially when their actions result in a patient giving up proper treatment, diagnosis or contact with qualified medical personnel.

The NRL's concerns are not unfounded. They point to a loophole in the project : the administrative penalty applies to companies and business entities that, in the event of problems, can simply disappear from the market... and be reborn under a new name. Criminal liability works differently - it sticks to a specific person and does not disappear with a new name.

The project assumes that pseudo-medicine will include the provision of health services by unqualified persons, the use of unverified "therapeutic" methods, as well as the spread of medical disinformation in order to achieve financial or personal benefits .

Public consultations on the project are ongoing.

Doctors appeal: it's time to stop treating pseudo-medicine as an innocent alternative. It's a business that preys on human suffering and ignorance.