Prof. Kazimierz Imieliński, the founder of Polish sexology and a promoter of the idea of humanizing medicine, died 15 years ago.

He was a pioneer of Polish sexology, but Professor Kazimierz Imieliński devoted a significant portion of his creative life to the idea of humanizing medicine, recalls Professor Zbigniew Izdebski, a sexologist and a continuator of the idea of humanizing medicine in Poland. Professor Imieliński passed away on July 16, 2010.

In connection with the anniversary, Professor Izdebski delivered a lecture: "From Sexology to the Humanization of Medicine – 15th Anniversary of the Death of Professor Kazimierz Imieliński." He presented it on July 11 in Dąbrowa Górnicza, where Professor Imieliński was born in 1929. Professor Izdebski recalled that he earned his medical degree in 1953 from the Medical Academy in Krakow, and that in 1973 he founded the first Department of Sexology in the country at that university. "Polish sexology then gained the status of an academic science," he noted.

– He was the first doctor in Poland to obtain the title of specialist in sexology in 1963, and was also the first scientist to complete a habilitation in this field (in 1971) and obtain the title of professor – recalled Prof. Zbigniew Izdebski, head of the Department of Biomedical Basis of Development and Sexology at the University of Warsaw and head of the Department of Humanization of Medicine and Sexology at the Medical College of the University of Zielona Góra.

In the following years, Professor Imieliński moved to Warsaw, where he continued his work in the field of sexology. In 1981, he established the Department of Sexology and Pathology of Interpersonal Relationships at the Medical Center of Postgraduate Education in Warsaw, which he directed for many years until his retirement. He developed a program for training specialists in sexology, recognized internationally as exemplary, and established a network of 86 sexology clinics in Poland. He trained over one hundred specialists.

"However, he devoted a significant part of his creative life to the idea of humanizing medicine," emphasized Professor Izdebski. "In 1990, he founded and became president of the Polish Academy of Medicine, which brought together primarily medical professors with humanistic interests, but also philosophers, lawyers, psychologists, and representatives of other humanities—moral and scientific authorities."

Since 1998, Professor Imieliński has served as president of the Albert Schweitzer World Academy of Medicine, which comprises 293 professors from 72 countries. Among them are 34 Nobel Prize winners, 243 university rectors and deans, and 9 presidents of academies of science.

"For his outstanding achievements, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He received 56 honorary doctorates from universities in 24 countries on four continents, and was also an honorary professor at 18 foreign universities," recalled Professor Izdebski.

The specialist added that Professor Imieliński also received the Hippocrates Medal for creating a new field of medicine – universalist medicine, which combines various Western therapeutic methods with traditional Eastern treatments. For his exceptional contributions, Kazimierz Imieliński was also nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Professor Imieliński's achievements allow us to recognize that the most outstanding representatives of the scientific world are capable of not only outlining compelling ideas, but also of propagating them in an extremely effective way on a global scale," commented Prof. Izdebski.

He noted that Prof. Imieliński correctly predicted that the 21st century would bring many advancements supporting diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, but that the doctor-patient relationship would need to be viewed even more as the most important component of the treatment process.

He recalled Professor Imieliński's warning that "even the greatest achievements will not be enough to make medicine more humane and perfect if the psychological and spiritual aspect of human existence is neglected, and doctors become mere engineers of the body."

"When science has deployed its full arsenal of resources and lost, a true doctor will not abandon the patient. As before, as always, the doctor must remain with the patient, touching, speaking, listening, and responding with warmth and energy, until the very end," argued Professor Imieliński.

Professor Izdebski believes that these ideas have lost none of their relevance; on the contrary, they are even more important. "The humanization of medicine is not opposed to medical progress and modern medical technologies. It refers to evidence-based medicine, advances in knowledge, and actions focused on the philosophy of thinking about people, taking into account respect, dignity, autonomy, and the rights of the patient. The point is simply to remember, despite various conditions and difficulties, how important the patient is in the treatment process," he concluded.

Zbigniew Wojtasiński (PAP)

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