In cases of faulty treatment or inadequate information, the patient is entitled to claims for damages. If there is reason to believe that a treatment error has occurred, the patient should first seek discussion with the treating physician or a counseling center, inspect the treatment records and have copies made.
Advice on patients’ rights
Advice can be found, among other places, at patient advice centers, consumer centers or self-help groups, but also at the medical and dental associations or health insurance companies. For example, the expert committee for medical malpractice at the North Rhine Medical Association processes about 1,800 applications annually. Every day, several doctors there advise patients on the phone, record their complaints, listen to their medical history and make further recommendations. However, they are not allowed to recommend physicians, only to give advice on other specialists.
If treatment errors are now actually suspected, the patients can turn to the expert committee for medical treatment errors of the North Rhine Medical Association with a request for a medical expert opinion. After inspection of the treatment documents and a statement by the physician concerned, the treatment is then reviewed.
Who pays for the treatment error?
As a rule, the physician’s professional liability insurance pays for treatment errors. In hospitals in the inpatient sector, patients can turn to the hospital operator or the hospital management. In many hospitals, there are also special patient advocates – independent confidants in whom patients can confide in the event of a conflict. Claims for damages can be asserted in or out of court.
Medical and dental associations, such as the North Rhine Medical Association, have set up expert and arbitration committees to resolve disagreements between doctors and patients out of court. The involvement of the expert commissions and arbitration boards is voluntary, and their activities are free of charge for patients. They take up cases that have not yet been the subject of legal proceedings and that do not date back more than five years.
The statutory health insurance funds also provide assistance if an application is submitted to them. The insurers help with out-of-court legal advice and can obtain a medical opinion from the MDK.