Aid can pay for chromosome examination

VG Karlsruhe: Gentest serves to prevent diseases
Karlsruhe (jur). The aid must be used to finance a chromosome examination in a case-by-case basis of a family-biased genetic defect for officials or their spouses. Because the investigation can serve the prevention of diseases, so that this is eligible, decided the administrative court Karlsruhe in a on Thursday, 7 April. 2016, published judgment (Az .: 9 K 600/15).

In the specific case, the claimant entitled to aid had demanded that the State Office for Salaries and Welfare of Baden-Württemberg contribute 50% of the expenses for a chromosome examination, a total of 416.81 euros. She had justified her application with a familial genetic defect, which does not have to be harmful to one's health, but can lead to serious malformations and disabilities in offspring.

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However, the grant was denied because the investigation is not directly related to the cure or alleviation of a disease or an existing condition. Only those expenses are eligible, which arose on the occasion of an illness, so the authority. Here, however, the applicant is healthy. The investigation was not based on one's own health care, but on the early detection of a possible genetic defect in the case of later pregnancies.

The applicant nevertheless allowed the investigation to be carried out. The genetic defect was finally detected in her. In court, she wanted to commit the aid for half the cost.

Rightly so, as the Administrative Court ruled in its judgment of 29 January 2016. Although the chromosome examination did not serve to diagnose or cure and alleviate a disease. The genetic defect as such is not a disease, especially as the plaintiff herself feels healthy. It is true that the aid must step in if the health of a child is threatened. At the time of the investigation, however, no child had been conceived.

However, the aid must allow outpatient medical services if they are necessary to prevent or prevent their worsening. Here a family-frequent genetic defect for serious illnesses was present. The knowledge of this genetic defect serves to prevent further obvious illnesses of the plaintiff. Thus, there is an increased risk of miscarriage due to the genetic defect as well as mental stress caused by the birth of a child with a severe disability. The applicant is therefore entitled to the requested 416.81 euros. (FLE)