Twenty years ago, the editorial office of “Gazeta Wyborcza” in Łódź was addressed to an anonymous letter, or rather from journalists, to take a closer look at what connects funeral directors with emergency service workers. Reporters began to investigate the matter, and the more they discovered, the more horrified they became. Material “Attention!” TVN.
“Cadavers are traded in emergency services in Łódź. Doctors, paramedics, ambulance drivers and dispatchers sell them, buy corpses. The deceased is called a 'skin'. They are even killed to get a 'skin',” the report says. An excerpt from the “Wyborcza” article from years ago, Tomasz Patora, which he co-authored.
– It was January 23, 2002, I remember that the agenda ended at 8 o'clock in the morning. I knew that there would be a storm like a hundred dragons, but at that time I was sure that no one would be punished. However, at least some of the killers were punished, Patora recalls.
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Funeral home near the hospital
More than 20 years ago in Łódź, journalists Tomáš Patora and Marcin Stelmasiak revealed crimes that could not be believed. They revealed that those who were supposed to save people's lives have started killing. “Skin hunters” – this is the practice, which to this day remains one of the most horrific medical crimes – perhaps in the whole world.
Patora says that “the beginning of the business of “skins” took place in the hospital of the Military Medical Academy, because “there was a funeral parlor, one of the first private institutions in Lodz, to which its director and others. , a former paramedic who invented trading.”
In the 1990s, capitalism developed dynamically in Łódź, including many funeral homes. The competition was great. Information about death became so valuable that people paid for it.
– The first aid station was crowded here. Dispatchers worked here, there were duty rooms where emergency teams waited for orders to go when they left. And here, first of all, caravans came with representatives of funeral homes, and the money of the “skins” usually changed hands, – says Patora years later.
“Skin hunters”. How did the procedure work?
At first, funeral home owners bribed paramedics with alcohol, then they gave electronic equipment and finally cash in exchange for information about the death. They handed over the value of the bribe to the families of the deceased in the form of additional payment.
– It preyed on the families of the deceased, because these people did not think logically, so it was possible to earn a lot of money. For everyone: to endure the body, because they were not on a sheet, but on a stretcher. Everything was worth the money. Money followed money, says Tomasz Wojcik, owner of the funeral home in the 1990s.
– At first, it was just about notifying a specific funeral home that we have a body here. But then small actions began, which, so to speak, increased the probability that the patient would not survive – says Marta Fuyak, executive producer of the series “Lucy Hunters”.
This action also meant that the nearest ambulance did not arrive for a patient waiting for immediate help. On the contrary, teams were sent to the station from far away and, moreover, they did not rush to see the patient. Therefore, the delivery of aid was deliberately delayed. – They were going to dinner, stopped there and only after about 40 minutes they came to see the unconscious man. So that he himself dies – says the ambulance driver of the Lodz emergency service in the series “Lossy Lowsy”.
Unknown deaths in Lodz
Journalists investigating in Łódź later learned of an unknown death. For example, about the sudden death of a mentally ill man and about a woman who died in an ambulance, who previously only complained of a rash. A 34-year-old perfectly healthy man also died suddenly and unexpectedly.
– Mrs. Danuta's grandson was going to technical school. He stood at the tram stop and saw an orderly and a doctor taking his grandmother to an ambulance. She recalled being surprised because there was a hospital across the street. He believed that the grandmother would be taken there, says Tomáš Patora.
– Actually, there was nothing wrong with his grandmother. The family doctor sent Ms. Danuta Barasinska for a check-up, just to be on the safe side, as her blood pressure was slightly elevated. All that was needed was a proper diagnosis. Unfortunately, this commander was Andrzej Novosien, the murderer. When the ambulance was a few hundred meters away, he injected Pavulon and Mrs. Danuta never reached the hospital, says the journalist.
– This is one of the few cases that have been proven and for which Andrzej Novosien, a paramedic, was convicted, – adds Patora.
How does Pavulon work?
The rule was very scary: the more “skins”, the more money. The boundaries became so blurred that emergency workers not only delayed flights, but began to kill patients using Pavulon – a muscle relaxant.
– The use of muscle relaxants relieves the tension of the muscles responsible for breathing. In the process of losing consciousness, in this case due to hypoxia, the last sense that goes out is the ear. They were still alive, no longer breathing. They were suffocating and could hear this criminal calling the funeral home – explains Ignacy Baumberg, an anesthesiologist in the “Lossy Losy” series. – These stories are from the depths of hell and it is extremely difficult to talk about them, – he adds.
The scandal was revealed thanks to whistleblowers
The information trading system had grown so large that it was almost impossible to uncover the shocking truth.
This was achieved thanks to the then workers of Lodz emergency services – Dr. Janusz Morawski and Renata Warzek-Kusiel. They found that Pavulon was being overused in some emergency departments. Thanks to their investigation, they found out who was probably killing the patients.
– I am horrified to think how many people would have been victims of this act if we had included all the drugs. The numbers are terrifying – says Janusz Morawski, an anesthesiologist and medical director of the Lodz Emergency Service from 2002 to 2015, in the “Skin Hunters” series.
– In my opinion, more than a thousand people were killed, there is no room for doubt. But, unfortunately, there are many people whose departure is simply delayed and they are allowed to die without rescue, says Tomasz Patora.
“Skin hunters” series.
To this day, many families in Lodz wonder if their loved ones were victims of “skin hunters”?
The subject is still alive and kicking back today in the form of a documentary series. The creators decided to tell this story thoroughly – from the beginning to the end – and also try to answer the question of how a person becomes a murderer.
– In such documentaries, only when all the facts are collected and brought together, a different picture of reality emerges. Thanks to a story that consists of several perspectives, you can see that it was a systemic issue. There were no safeguards and no framework to stop these people, – says Alexandra Potochek, director and screenwriter of this series.
– We do not want to slander anyone or slander medical workers. After all, this incident happened thanks to the healthcare workers. We wanted to shine a light on these positive characters and honor them – adds Marta Fuyak, executive producer of the series “Lovesy Lovey”.
Verdicts in the case of “skin hunters”
– Within the four walls of the ambulance, the hope of the patient, the trust of the family and the need for help are met by the ruthless action of an agent of darkness dressed as a paramedic. A cruel, unscrupulous person who despises human life, said the head of the collegium, judge Yaroslav Papis at the meeting.
In the trial of “skin hunters”, the murder of five people was proven. Two sanitation workers were sentenced: one is serving life imprisonment, the other is serving 25 years in prison.
Two doctors were convicted of intentionally endangering the lives of patients. Both are now free.
Skin hunters again in the trial 02/23 | On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal from Łódź will consider the protest appeal of five emergency service workers in the “skin poachers” scandal. This is the second trial in this case. (TVN24)TVN24
– When I go back to this courtroom, I think about the fact that there are so many seats in this defendant's chair for those other killers from the emergency services who have never been charged. Those who remain unpunished until today. And there were many of them, says Tomas Patora.
The documentary series “Skin Hunters” can now be watched in its entirety on the MAX platform.
“Skin hunters”. Max Original documentary series trailer
Main photo source: “Caution!” TVN
