Key facts
- A proposed law in Poland would grant patients the right to be visited by their pets in hospice and palliative care wards.
- The initiative is driven by a desire to combat loneliness and ease the suffering of terminally ill patients.
- Dr. Tomasz Dzierżanowski, director of the Palliative Medicine Clinic at the Medical University of Warsaw, is leading the proposal.
- The legislation has been introduced to parliament by a member of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist party.
- The proposal is currently under review by parliament's health committee.
- Visits by therapy dogs are already permitted in some clinics.
A proposed law in Poland aims to grant patients in hospice and palliative care wards the right to be visited by their pets. The initiative was inspired by the story of Ewa Lutka-Krawczyk, a cancer patient who worried about her dog, Gaja, and by a previous case where a seriously ill patient named Waldemar was reunited with his cats.
Dr. Tomasz Dzierżanowski, director of the Palliative Medicine Clinic at the Medical University of Warsaw, is spearheading the proposal, which has been introduced to parliament by a member of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist party. Dzierżanowski believes that the presence of pets can alleviate the physical and spiritual pain of terminally ill patients, especially in a society experiencing an 'epidemic of loneliness.'
Katarzyna Piekarska, the lawmaker who introduced the legislation, stated that while pet visits are already permitted in many clinics, formalizing this right in law is necessary. The legislation is currently being reviewed by parliament's health committee.
The clinic also allows visits from therapy dogs, such as Kluska, an Australian shepherd, whose presence provided comfort and distraction to patients like Lutka-Krawczyk and Wojciech Zelik. The owner of Kluska, Małgorzata Brzozowska, noted that visits from a patient's own pet can offer even greater benefits, calming the patient, their loved ones, and the animal itself.