A/HRC/41/33/Add.433/Add.4 The right to object against physician’s opinion or medical statement has a general nature and therefore has not been limited to the case of refusal to terminate pregnancy in circumstances specified by the Act of January 7, 1993 on Family Planning, Protection of Human Fetus and Conditions under which pregnancy termination is permissible. The right to object against physician’s opinion or medical statement is actually an effective mechanism of legal protection of patient’s rights, inter alia for women who have been refused abortion or referrals for prenatal screening or prenatal screening itself despite the referral. Additionally, it is important to point out that apart from the objection procedure, the Act of November 6, 2008 on patients’ rights and the ombudsman of patients’ rights established the Patient’s Rights Ombudsman to protect the rights of the patient. The scope of the Ombudsman's activities include i.a.: 1. conducting proceedings in cases of practices infringing collective rights of patients; 2. conducting proceedings under Art. 50-53 (those articles regulate the ability of the Ombudsman to commence a clarifying investigation in cases of acquiring an information at least making a violation of patients' rights probable); 3. performing certain activities in the civil cases; 4. cooperation with public authorities in order to ensure that patients adhere to their rights, in particular the minister responsible for health; 5. providing the competent public authorities, organizations and institutions, and self- 6. governments of medical professions with assessments and proposals to ensure effective 7. protection of patients' rights; 8. cooperation with non-governmental organizations, social and professional organizations the statutory objectives of which include the protection of patients' rights; 9. analysis of patients' complaints in order to identify the risks and areas of the health care system in need of repair. It should also be mentioned that in November 2018, in all regional branches of the National Health Fund across Poland, the new Patient Information Helpline was launched. A single unique phone number 800 190 590 for the National Health Service and the Bureau of the Commissioner for Patients’ Rights. is a nationwide free-of-charge helpline of the Commissioner for Patients’ Rights. The Patient Information Helpline is serviced by several dozens of employees of the Fund’s voivodeship branches and the Bureau of the Commissioner for Patients’ Rights at the same time. The new single number replaces several numbers which have so far functioned in regional branches of the Fund. It guarantees the fast provision of comprehensive and transparent information on the functioning of the health care system in Poland. The persons calling this Helpline can obtain information about, among others, the rights of the insured persons, the procedure to report infringement of the patient’s rights, the contact data of medical establishments and physicians’ offices which signed a contract with the National Health Fund, rules governing the provision of services and the functioning of the public health insurance system. However, referring to the number of objections to an opinion or medical certificate submitted by a patient or his legal representative, it should be noted that in 2016 the Medical Commission operating at the Patients’ Rights Ombudsman considered 2 objections. One of them was received at the end of 2015 and referred to a medical certificate indicating the lack of indications for abortions. In all cases, the Medical Committee unanimously ruled against the objection. 9