A high-profile criminal investigation has roiled Poland following the shocking discovery of 34 buried human foetuses in the backyard of a former residence of a 57-year-old medical pathologist, who has since been arrested and placed in pre-trial detention, Polish law enforcement officials confirmed Monday.
The case, unfolding in the deeply Catholic southeastern region of the country, has sparked fierce public debate amid Poland’s already strict abortion regulations, with many members of the public questioning how a licensed medical professional could access the biological material for unapproved personal use. The pathologist, identified only as Magdalena H. in line with Polish privacy legislation and who has no prior criminal record, is suspected of conducting unauthorized experiments with the foetuses. If convicted on all charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 12 years behind bars.
Prosecutors have clarified that so far, no evidence has emerged to link the foetuses to illegal abortions. The formal charges brought against the specialist include desecration of human corpses, improper management of medical waste, and illegally abandoning hazardous biological materials in an unregulated site.
The investigation was launched last week, when construction workers carrying out renovations at the property in the small village of Lutoryż tipped off local prosecutors about the presence of suspicious medical waste. Authorities launched a large-scale search operation involving dozens of police officers, ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs, which uncovered the 34 foetuses buried in the garden.
District Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Krzysztof Ciechanowski told reporters that the biological material was most likely collected and used by the detained pathologist to conduct private off-site testing. Unnamed sources close to the investigation told Polish outlet Radio Eska that Magdalena H. removed the foetuses from the Rzeszow hospital where she worked during the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct personal research at her private property.
Alongside the human remains, search teams also recovered tens of thousands of prepared microscope slides, paraffin blocks for tissue sampling, and partial fragments of related medical documentation, Ciechanowski confirmed. The pathologist was taken into custody on Friday, and a court approved a three-month pre-trial detention period to prevent her from interfering with the ongoing investigation.
After being formally presented with the charges, Magdalena H. did not enter a guilty plea. However, the prosecutor’s spokesman confirmed that she has acknowledged she personally transported the foetuses and other medical waste to the property and buried them herself. Investigators are still working to identify the origins of the foetuses, and have not yet confirmed whether the pathologist acted alone or had accomplices.