If necessary, aid must also pay for preventive surgery

The aid may also have to pay for preventive surgery if it is very likely that a serious disease is due to a gene mutation. That's on Thursday, March 10th. 2016, the Hessian Administrative Court (VGH) in Kassel in the case of a threatening breast cancer 'decided (Az .: 1 A 1261/15).

Picture: resket - fotolia

An official from southern Hesse had sued. She is a carrier of the BRCA-2 gene. With a corresponding family bias, this leads to an 80 percent chance of breast cancer.

Here, several female family members were already suffering from breast cancer. Doctors classified the official as a "high-risk patient".

Therefore, she did not want to wait until she gets breast cancer too. From the aid, which covers part of the health care for civil servants, she applied for a preventive breast surgery with implant reconstruction. The state of Hesse refused, however. The officer still had the operation carried out and sued for reimbursement.

Like the Darmstadt administrative court, the VGH Kassel now also appealed. Although the assumption of costs in such cases is not directly provided for in the Hessian state aid rules. However, it derives from the duty of care of the employer enshrined in the Basic Law.

Therefore, "the presence of a BRCA-2 gene mutation" must already be considered a disease within the meaning of the State aid rules, the VGH ruled. As a result, the aid must cover the costs of preventive breast surgery.

Because of fundamental importance, however, the VGH Kassel allowed the appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. (Mwo / fle)