Nurses paid unofficially, X-ray equipment without approval – new facts in Spine company case in Mogilno
Neurosurgeons from the Spine company paid operating room nurses out of their own pockets, and procedures were performed using an X-ray machine without legalisation. The Prosecutor's Office and Central Anti-Corruption Bureau are conducting investigations.
Unofficial payments, illegal equipment and hundreds of suspicious patient records
Google News PL has uncovered further irregularities related to the Spine company, a neurosurgery venture that in 2023 signed a contract with the district hospital in Mogilno. The neurosurgeons personally paid operating room nurses for participation in procedures, and the procedures were performed using an X-ray machine that did not have the required approval for use in an operating theatre.
According to testimony given before the court in Bydgoszcz by Dr Mateusz Szylberg, the division of responsibilities was clearly defined: the Spine company provided doctors, while the hospital provided ancillary staff. Since the facility did not wish to engage additional workers, nurses who happened to be on duty were delegated to procedures performed on Saturdays.
– There were two surgical technicians who were additionally paid by me – Szylberg testified in court. – It was all unofficial of course, but suggested by the hospital's management.
The former director of the facility, Ewa Bonk-Woźniakowska, denies ever suggesting such a solution to doctors. However, correspondence obtained by the editorial team shows that the surgical technicians received between 300 and 450 zlotys monthly. When speaking with journalists, they did not confirm this directly, nor did they deny it. The head of the operating block hung up when informed of the content of the obtained messages.
Procedures without test results and unlegalised equipment
Analysis of the medical documentation revealed further irregularities. Comparison of nursing records with laboratory data showed that many procedures were performed without prior laboratory test results. In anonymised sample data provided by the hospital's current management, one patient was hospitalised between 09:50 and 09:55, blood was drawn before the procedure, but the laboratory result was produced only at 10:11 – after the patient had left the operating theatre.
Specialists consulting on the case acknowledge that laboratory tests are not always necessary for this type of procedure, however they had been ordered. Why the results were not awaited – hospital director Sebastian Jankiewicz cannot explain.
– We have no idea how all of this took place – Jankiewicz said in conversation with the editorial team.
Thermolesion is performed under the control of an X-ray machine with a so-called C-arm. Before signing the contract with the Spine company, the Mogilno hospital did not have such equipment. Under the original contract, the equipment was to be provided by the company and registered with the sanitary authority and legalised before procedures began – this requirement stems from atomic law regulations concerning ionising radiation that can damage protein structures in the organism.
A few months later, however, an amendment to the contract was signed. Under it, the hospital assumed responsibility for providing the equipment and leased the machine from a foundation named the Spine Neurosurgery Institute. The foundation has its registered office at the same address as the Spine company, and its board includes members of the Spine management board: Mateusz Szylberg and Maciej Mielcarek. Szylberg testified in court that he wanted the foundation to also generate revenue. And it did: 3,000 zlotys monthly from the lease of equipment to the hospital.
The sanitary authority – informed by the Prosecutor's Office – carried out an inspection and found 14 serious violations of regulations. The hospital was fined several thousand zlotys. From September 2024, the hospital thus bore the costs associated with the equipment, paying for use of the machine on which doctors affiliated with the Spine foundation worked.
26,000 zlotys per hour and falsification of documentation
The events described are a continuation of findings published the previous day. The Mogilno hospital signed a contract with the Spine company despite the facility not even having a neurosurgery clinic. Doctors received 65 per cent of the amount valued by the National Health Fund for each procedure, which translated into up to 26,000 zlotys per hour of work.
A report from the National Health Fund and the provincial consultant states that in both Mogilno and Miastko in Pomerania, doctors were charging for several-minute procedures as considerably more expensive. Hundreds of nearly identical patient records bear, in the consultant's view, signs of falsification of medical documentation. On one Saturday, one doctor was seeing between 50 and 77 patients.
The financial consequences for the hospital are serious: the National Health Fund imposed a fine of 2.6 million zlotys. At the same time, the Spine company sued the facility over outstanding invoices amounting to 1.28 million zlotys and won – a bailiff has already seized 400,000 zlotys from the hospital's contract. The hospital is having difficulty paying employees on time.
All contracts from the previous period were signed by the former director, Ewa Bonk-Woźniakowska. Today she claims that these contracts were not defective.
Prosecutor's Office and Central Anti-Corruption Bureau conduct investigations
The Prosecutor's Office is investigating irregularities in Mogilno. A separate proceeding concerning the hospital in Miastko is being conducted by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau. According to information obtained by the editorial team, the mechanisms of abuse in the settlement of neurosurgical procedures had been monitored by the National Health Fund since 2022, and fund inspections covered both facilities.
Source: Google News PL