Knife attack at Jastrzębie-Zdrój hospital leaves four injured, including a doctor and nurse; police arrest 19-year-old suspect

Attack at the hospital

Just after 6 p.m. on Thursday, 25 June, a 19-year-old Polish man entered the Wojewódzki Szpital Specjalistyczny (also known as Specjalistyczny Szpital Wojewódzki) at Aleja Jana Pawła II in Jastrzębie-Zdrój. He used a sharp tool, described in some reports as a knife, to attack patients and medical staff on the premises. The local police received the emergency call at 18:00, and officers were dispatched immediately.

Four injured, including a doctor and nurse

The attacker wounded four people: the head of the gastrology department (ordynator gastrologii), a nurse, and two female patients. One of the patients required emergency surgery, while the doctor was treated in the surgical unit but did not need an operation. A witness, who was visiting her mother, described the scene as chaotic.

We saw a woman falling, and she had been stabbed with a knife. At one point we barricaded the door with a bed, but later opened it when we knew the ward was locked. I helped save another patient's life. It wasn't easy.

Arrest and ongoing investigation

Police spokeswoman aspirant sztabowy Halina Semik confirmed that the suspect, a 19-year-old Polish citizen, was detained at the hospital shortly after the attack. The scene was secured, and no further threat existed. Officers under the supervision of a prosecutor are now investigating the motive and precise circumstances. The police have not disclosed the attacker's identity or his possible relationship to the victims.

The suspect, a man, was detained. We are conducting activities under the prosecutor's supervision to determine the causes and exact circumstances of the incident.

Hospital security and broader context

This event follows a fatal attack on a doctor in Kraków in April 2025, when a 35-year-old patient killed an orthopedic surgeon and injured a nurse at the University Hospital. The Jastrzębie-Zdrój attack has renewed questions about safety in Polish healthcare facilities, though no link between the two incidents has been suggested.