Warsaw, 14 September 1945. Investigating judge Mikołaj Halfter, acting on the motion of the prosecutor and through the agency of expert medical witnesses, Prof. Adam Gruca (son of Kazimierz and Dorota, director of the Central Institution of Trauma Surgery, temporarily residing at the Baby Jesus Hospital in Warsaw, no relationship to the parties, no criminal record) and Prof. Dr. Wiktor Grzywo-Dąbrowski (head of the Forensic Medicine Department of the University of Warsaw, resident of Warsaw, Grochowska Street 24b), a sworn-in expert witness, conducted a medico-legal examination of Maria Kuśmierczuk, aged 25, Roman Catholic, a student, supported by parents, resident of Warsaw, Piusa XI Street 24, currently at the Central Institution of Trauma Surgery.
Asked by the expert medical witness, the patient stated as follows: Parents are alive and in good health, siblings as well. Suffered from scarlet fever and jaundice in childhood, other than that no medical record. First menstruation period at the age of sixteen, regular cycles ever since, 5–6/30 type, profuse, painless. No menstruation between 1942 and 1943, after that regular again, the most recent one between 1–7 September 1945. Has never been pregnant, reports no venereal diseases. Between 23 September 1941 and April 1945 interned at the Ravensbrück camp.
On 7 February 1942, while in perfect health, she underwent a surgery, whose details she cannot provide because she was under anesthesia and has no recollection at all of the 4–5 days after the surgery. After she regained consciousness, she noticed that her right leg was in a splint and was very tightly bandaged. She felt severe pain in this leg. For two – three weeks, she had a fever of up to 39 degrees Celsius. Abundant purulent discharge oozed from the leg. Ten days after the surgery, she had a plaster cast put on. The right crus healed slowly for a year. In August 1943, she had epidermis from the left thigh transplanted onto major defects in the crus. Toward the beginning of 1944, she still had a defect the size of a pea, which healed after two months. Already after the surgery, the patient noticed inertia in the right foot.
PRESENT CONDITION: lucid, proper physique. Lymphatic nodes non-palpable. Throat pale pink, tonsils small. Resonant percussion sound and correct vesicular murmur above the lungs, lower lung borders correct and motile. Heart not enlarged, rhythmic activity, clear heart sounds. Pulse 74/mm. Pressure 120/80 mmHg.
Abdominal cavity: soft abdominal integuments. No visible resistance or tenderness to palpation. Liver and spleen non-palpable.
LOCAL CONDITION: on the inside of the left thigh, there are 8 small scars the size of a 1 grosz coin, affecting epidermis and dermis.
On the right crus, there is a vast scar the shape of an irregular trapezoid, whose edge runs from the fibular head and along it, to the external ankle, then progresses to the posterior side of the crus, to a point located 14 cm above the calcaneus, and then runs 17 cm up and turns toward the fibular head. The scar is firmly coalesced with the fibula and the tibia and is immoveable. Upon pressing the scar around the fibular head, the patient experiences an electrifying sensation toward the external ankle. Full movability of the knee. Right foot adducted. Plantarflexion good, adduction slight.
No other active movements.
Passive movements, except limited dorsiflexion of up to 90 degrees, good. Toe movements: good plantarflexion, others absent.
Leg circumference: right: left:
1) At the upper patella edge 39 cm 39
2) 7 cm below tibial tuberoses 35 37
3) 14 cm above tibial tuberoses 28 34
4) 7 cm above external ankle 21 23
Chest radiogram: in the periphery of the right lung, at the first intercostal space, there is a calcified focus the size of a pea. Other than that, no irregularities in chest organs.
Right crus radiogram: right fibula in the middle and lower section significantly thickened, deformed, with coarse and corrugated swelling – changes brought about by extensive periosteal thickening characteristic of periostitis ossificans. Medullary cavity irregular but not interrupted. Moderate disseminated osteoarthritis visible in the bone.
In the next third, visible ossicle growth in the direction of the tibia, possibly proliferative changes in membrane interossea. Similar changes, but less prominent and less disseminated, visible in the right tibia in the middle third. Soft tissue defects also visible in the radiogram.
Neurological examination: adducted positioning of the foot resulting from lack of anterolateral muscles, right patellar reflex more prominent than left, right Achilles reflex weaker than left, both prominent. No pathological reflexes found. The patient thrusts the right foot forward when walking. Paretic gait. Walks well on toes.
When asked specifically, the expert medical witnesses concur:
based on the anamnesis and the appearance of the scar, we conclude that patient Maria Kuśmierczuk – likely after her muscles sustained deliberately inflicted damage (laceration or crushing) – was injected with highly pathogenic and malignant bacteria, which resulted in the anterolateral and, partly, posterolateral muscle tissue suppuration. During the surgery, the fibular nerve was damaged.
Following the above procedures, Maria Kuśmierczuk’s right leg was significantly disfigured and rendered significantly and permanently dysfunctional.
The consequences of the procedures – consisting in microorganism infection – which the patient underwent undoubtedly constituted a life-threatening condition for a few months.
The report was read out.
W. Grzywo-Dąbrowski