Warsaw hospital scandal deepens as Trzaskowski faces evidence of early warning about VIP queue for KO politicians

VIP access and a doctor-millionaire

The scandal at Warsaw’s Szpital Południowy centres on a separate waiting area, nicknamed the “VIP lounge”, which gave members of the Civic Coalition (KO) and their families quicker access to emergency department services. At the heart of the affair is Dawid Kacprzyk, a 28-year-old KO councillor and doctor who, despite lacking a specialisation, became the de facto manager of the hospital’s Emergency Department (SOR). In 2025 his medical activities earned him 1.6 million złoty. Following media reports, Kacprzyk was expelled from KO, resigned his council mandate, and returned part of the money to the hospital.

“The most disturbing situation concerns doctor Dawid Kacprzyk, who, being only in his first year of specialisation, has been allowed – effectively – to manage the Emergency Department. He performs procedures he is not authorised to carry out, often without supervision by properly qualified staff.”

The hospital is owned by the city of Warsaw, whose mayor – and KO deputy leader – Rafał Trzaskowski faced immediate questions about whether he had prior knowledge of the irregularities.

Trzaskowski’s denial and the July 2025 messages

At a press conference on 19 June, Trzaskowski insisted no information about problems in the SOR had reached him. “My reaction was quick and concrete,” he said, pointing to his removal of the hospital’s board and supervisory board. Asked directly by journalist Dawid Chęć whether he had ever heard – even informally – of irregularities, Trzaskowski replied: “As I said, no information about irregularities in the SOR reached me.”

However, within hours, the investigative portal Zero.pl published messages showing that the head of the surgery department had been raising alarms since June 2025. After initially asking for a meeting, the surgeon sent Trzaskowski a detailed written message on 19 July 2025, copying the hospital’s management and supervisory board. The messages described Kacprzyk’s lack of qualifications, his performance of unauthorised procedures, and the ethical decay in hospital management. Two months later, in September 2025, the surgeon was dismissed.

“Every day I receive hundreds of messages from all kinds of sources. I am not able to read every one. A private message is not a channel for reporting irregularities in a municipal institution.”

Trzaskowski stated that only formal notifications – in writing to the relevant authorities or through whistleblower procedures – count as proper reporting. He added that, to his knowledge, the hospital is now in a serious legal dispute with the former department head.

Prime Minister Tusk and the prosecutor general step in

Speaking in Brussels after a European Council meeting, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would ask Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek to oversee the investigation personally because of the public importance of the case. “I will turn to the prosecutor general to supervise this matter and to see it explained as quickly as possible. It does not matter to me for whom the explanation will be painful – the case must be clarified to the very end,” Tusk said.

Tusk also pointed to a pre-existing conflict between two doctors at the hospital. “It increasingly seems fairly obvious that this affair also has its origins in a conflict between two doctors, as well as between the hospital and one of those doctors,” he said. He confirmed Dawid Kacprzyk had already faced swift consequences, losing his party membership and his medical coordination role. Tusk assured that a Supreme Audit Office (NIK) inspection and a separate municipal audit had been ordered, adding, “There is no risk that this matter will be swept under the carpet.”

Prosecutor General Żurek had previously declared that, due to the case’s social significance, the proceedings would be under his supervision to prevent any political pressure.

Timeline of the unfolding scandal

The sequence of events, drawn from the documents now public, shows a year-long trail from internal warnings to the political explosion on 19 June 2026.

Political consequences and opposition reaction

The revelations triggered an immediate response from the opposition. PiS MP and former deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński posted a copy of a formal notice he had submitted to prosecutors, alleging that Trzaskowski may have committed an offence by failing to act on the information. The capital’s mayor revoked the hospital’s entire board and management, and promised that politicians would no longer sit on hospital supervisory boards. Nevertheless, the story has placed one of the opposition’s leading presidential hopefuls under intense scrutiny, just as he has been building his national profile. “You kept saying you personally manage the hospitals. So what now?” one PiS politician wrote on social media, capturing a narrative that could haunt Trzaskowski’s future campaigns.