Andrzej Nowocien

Case overview

Andrzej Nowocień was convicted in Poland of murdering patients in a hospital casualty department in Łódź as part of a scandal later nicknamed the “Skin Hunters” (“Łowcy skór”). The case involved four hospital casualty workers who were convicted of murdering at least five patients and selling information regarding their deaths to funeral homes.

On January 20, 2007, four employees from a hospital casualty department in Łódź were sentenced. The perpetrators were shown to have killed mostly elderly patients using the muscle relaxant pancuronium (brand name Pavulon). After killing the patients, the four workers sold information about the deceased patients to funeral homes so that funeral homes could contact relatives before other funeral homes could.

The workers were described as having taken bribes ranging from 12,000 to over 70,000 zloty.

Timeline

• January 20, 2007 — Four employees from a hospital casualty department in Łódź were sentenced, including Andrzej Nowocień to life in prison.
• June 2008 — The Łódź Appeal Court upheld the sentences.
• October 27, 2009 — The Supreme Court of Poland rejected a further appeal.
• January 23, 2002 — The scandal was first brought to public attention in an article in Gazeta Wyborcza.
• 2002 — The “Skin Hunters” were apprehended.

The offence

Four hospital casualty workers were convicted of murdering at least five patients and selling information regarding their deaths to funeral homes.

The perpetrators killed mostly elderly patients by administering the muscle relaxant pancuronium (brand name Pavulon).

The bribery scheme involved funeral homes receiving information about patient deaths. The funeral homes then used that information to contact relatives before other funeral homes could.

The workers took bribes ranging from 12,000 to over 70,000 zloty. The funeral home added the cost of the bribes it paid to the killers to the bills that the families of the deceased paid for their funerals.

Investigation and public attention

The scandal was first brought to public attention on January 23, 2002 in an article in the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza by Tomasz Patora, Marcin Stelmasiak and Przemysław Witkowski. The article described how hospital workers or paramedics would call funeral homes regarding patient deaths in order to receive a bribe, and sometimes even killed patients.

The dead patients were called “skins,” which led to the media nickname “Skin Hunters” (“Łowcy skór”).

A description of the case later noted that in January 2002 the media reported that the emergency medical service in Łódź might have traded information on new deaths and that possibly patients had been deliberately killed.

Arrest

The “Skin Hunters” were apprehended in 2002.

Trial

A court in Łódź on January 19 issued a verdict in a case involving a group of “skin hunters,” local paramedics and doctors involved in a medical scandal that outraged the public.

Four employees of the local emergency medical service were found guilty of killing patients. Andrzej N. received a life sentence for killing five patients. Karol B. was found guilty of killing one patient and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Two former ambulance doctors received prison terms of five and six years after accusations of endangering the lives of a total of 14 patients, who eventually died.

Andrzej Nowocień’s conviction and sentence

Paramedic Andrzej Nowocień was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of four patients and for helping Karol B. in a further murder.

At the time described by prosecutors, Andrzej N. was charged with killing four patients by administering Pavulon, a muscle relaxant, even though the use of the drug was not justified.

Other convicted defendants

Paramedic Karol Banaś was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for the “particularly cruel” (“szczególnie okrutne”) murder of “Ludmiła Ś.” and for helping Andrzej N. murder the other patients.

Doctor Janusz Kuliński was sentenced to six years and banned from practising medicine for 10 years for willfully endangering 10 patients.

Doctor Paweł W. was sentenced to five years and banned from practising medicine for 10 years for the willful endangering of four patients.

Appeals

The sentences were upheld by the Łódź Appeal Court in June 2008.

A further appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of Poland on October 27, 2009.

Investigation status and follow-up

The investigation into the scandal was still ongoing, and a total of forty other members of the casualty department were under investigation, as were the owners of a local funeral home for receiving information regarding the deaths of patients.

Cultural references

In 2003, a film titled Skin Hunters (Łowcy skór) was made of the case starring Piotr Adamczyk.

In 2008, a documentary of the events, Necrobusiness, was made by a Swedish company.

Other details

The Warsaw Voice reported a court in Łódź issued a verdict in a case involving a group of “skin hunters,” and noted bribes taken from undertakers in the course of a few years. The funeral homes included the costs of the bribes it paid to the killers in the bills that the families of the deceased paid for their funeral services.