Prawo do ochrony zdrowia a organizacja systemu opieki medycznej w Polsce powojennej (1945–1952)

Abstract

The article discusses the formation of the health care system in Poland based on the assumption that every patient has a right to health protection, and the determinant factors of this process. The analysed period starts at the end of World War II in 1945 and finishes with the adoption of the Constitution of 22 July 1952. In 1945 the health care in Poland was based on the legal and organizational solutions developed in the Second Polish Republic. Soon it started to be modified, which eventually led to its nationalization. The years 1945–1952 were a “transitional period” in the Polish legislation and organization of health care. In the first post-war years, the functioning of the health care system in Poland was based on the Act of 28 March 1933 on social insurance and of 15 June 1939 on public health care. However, they did not ultimately become the basis for structural solutions introduced in Poland in the early 1950s. At that time, the so-called multisectoral system in health care was abandoned and almost all of its aspects were taken over by state institutions. The aim of the article is to present the determinant factors which governed the evolution of Polish medical law in post-war Poland and to analyse the legal regulations introduced from 1945 to 1952. In their analyses the authors used the dogmatic-legal method (an analysis of legal texts – the basic method) and the historical-legal method (an outline of the right to health protection and its evolution in the studied period). The article ends with final conclusions.