Updated January 22, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.*
WARSAW — “Have you had any bad experiences when going to see a gynecologist?” I ask my friends. They all confirm that they have.
One of them recalls, “A few years ago, I went to a doctor for a visit and asked for a prescription for emergency contraception. If she had simply refused, I think I would have just kept shut. But first she had to tell me that she doesn’t prescribe ‘such’ prescriptions, and then she added in a rather blunt manner that morning-after pills are for ‘slutty girls’ and that she didn’t expect that from me, a wife and mother of three.”
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Another friend adds, “I once went to a doctor who spent the entire visit talking about politics and the Church, suggesting that patients were fools who expected ‘some kind of magic treatment’ and ‘painless tests’, but that instead ‘a visit to the doctor is not a date, it has to hurt’”. He kept attacking me with questions: “What else would I like?”, before answering himself, ‘maybe you’d like this visit to be free, or you’d like me to make you some tea — or maybe you want me to give you a kiss?’. It was disgusting.”
Their stories are similar to those that have been publicized for years in the media, tales of violence and inappropriate treatment of patients in gynecological offices across Poland.
Such behavior has a deep impact on patients, as shown by the report Polka u gynecologiczna 2024 (“A Polish woman at the gynecologist’s office 2024”) conducted by kliniki.pl, a nationwide platform connecting patients with medical offices.
Shame and fear
According to surveys conducted on over 1,100 women, 5.8% of adult women last visited a gynecologist more than five years ago, and 4.3% say they had never consulted with a gynecologist. Among these women, 67% are aged 18 to 24. The authors of the report attribute these results to a lack of appropriate sexual education and health awareness.
Women aged 28 to 45 and 46 to 59 go to the gynecologist most often and most regularly.
Emotional and psychological comfort are what patients pay attention to.
One-third of young women confess avoiding gynecological examinations out of shame or fear of being judged by the practitioner.
The study also shows that in addition to the doctor’s competence, emotional and psychological comfort are what patients pay attention to: 45% of respondents indicate that a good atmosphere and contact with the gynecologist can encourage them to schedule visits more regularly, 32% indicate the importance of empathy, while 28% say gentleness during the examination matters, and 13% highlight the need for a well-mannered doctor.
Conscience clause
The women taking part in the study also answered questions about the worst elements of a visit and what they fear the most. And there were no surprises here: Patients fear unnecessary comments, inappropriate jokes, painful examinations, an authoritarian attitude, a lack of privacy in the office, disregard, haste — as well as the use of the conscience clause.
The conscience clause states that “a doctor may refrain from providing health services that are contrary to his conscience”. Doing so should be written down in the patient’s medical records, but many doctors fail to comply. What’s more, the phrase has become somewhat synonymous with refusing to perform abortions or write prescriptions for contraception.
Poland’s draconian abortion laws will be a hot topic ahead of May’s presidential election in Poland. In a recent interview with the country’s Polsat broadcaster, Karol Nawrocki — a PiS-backed candidate leading the polls — said he would not sign any bill that would soften current legislation.
Hospitals have no conscience.
Last year, it was suggested that doctors should officially inform, either through their websites or on the doors of their offices, that when treating patients, they have a right to invoke said conscience clause. Recently, Polish Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna stated that medical facilities would be forbidden to do so: “Hospitals have no conscience,” she explained, announcing penalties for failure to provide medical services.
But young patients have shared their recent experiences with what they referred to as “catho-gynecologists”, for which they felt the need to leave coded comments on the doctor-finding website znalekarza.pl. The comments are simple, sometimes simply reading “yellow”.
What does it mean to be “yellow”?
The word rzułty (“yellow”) originated from memes featuring Pope John Paul II, which became popular among younger Poles who criticized the former pontiff’s alleged role in covering up sexual abuse in the Church. The memes show the pope, with an artificially yellow face, in a unflattering light in an attempt to criticize the Catholic Church and its values.
Polish radio station TOK FM was one of the first outlets to point out how women had reused this meme to warn each other about doctors who put their conscience above the health of their patients.
Paulina Guzowska, 17, says that for her generation, “church-y” gynecologists are examples of “pathological care”. She reportedly told during an examination, “The priest will not give absolution”. When the then 17-year-old girl asked about the reason for such a statement, the doctor replied: “I can see that you are no longer a virgin.”
From meme to means
“It’s a shame that gynecologists like this don’t hang a picture of the Pope on their office doors. At least I’d know where not to go. My friends leave rzułty reviews for gynecologists on znanylekarz.pl, to warn each other,” the 17-year-old says on TOK FM.
Under an Instagram post titled Patoginekologia (“Patho-gynecology”), meant to spread the rzułty initiative among, countless comments encourage young women to share the names of doctors and offices who abuse the “conscience clause”.
What was once a meme may have now become a means for women help each other gain access to non-judgmental medical professionals.
*Originally published Decemeber 31, 2024, this article was updated January 22, 2025 with enriched media and news about the upcoming presidential election in Poland.
