Doctors botch Be active in case of treatment errors

Judgment on treatment errors: what can patients do

04/16/2014

Every year thousands of patients in Germany are victims of treatment errors. If the new hip causes problems, the pain after an appendectomy just does not subside, or there are other reasons to suspect a doctor botch, patients should know how to fight it off. In a procedure, doctors were now found guilty after a beauty surgery.

Court condemns doctor and medical student
Every year, thousands of patients in Germany complain about possible treatment errors. However, the error is not always due to the failure of a doctor. And only in very rare cases, the result is as dramatic as in the fatal accident in a Mainz beauty clinic, where a patient fell into a coma in June 2011, after she was falsely administered an anesthetic. The mother of two has since been in a vegetative state. On Tuesday, the district court of Mainz decided that the clinic, doctor and the attending medical student must be held liable. Patients can also defend themselves with less serious errors. So here are some questions and answers about treatment errors:

Treatment error is defined by three points
As Claudia Schlund of the Independent Patient Counseling Germany (UPD) explains, a treatment error is defined by three points. There must first be damage and its cause must be clearly attributable to the treatment. In addition, it must be proved that the treatment actually violated the rules of medical art. „Failure to adequately, carefully, correctly or timely treatment will be considered a treatment error“, sums up the medical service of the health insurance (MDK).

Not every complication is due to medical errors
Not every complication is fundamentally suspicious and you can not automatically conclude from an undesirable outcome of a treatment on a medical error. Some problems also occur, although the doctor has done everything right. „An infection, for example, can happen at every procedure. There is a residual risk, even if all hygiene measures are taken“, so maw. Therefore, doctors usually clarify this natural risk before treatments.

The burden of proof lies with the patient
As a general rule, the burden of proof lies with possible patient treatment errors. However, health insurance companies help with a medical report. „If I am legally insured, I can contact my health insurance. It is obliged by law to provide you with a report free of charge“, explains Maw. Commissioned with this opinion is the MDK. As a further alternative, it is also possible to contact the expert commissions and arbitration boards of the regional medical associations. The appraiser only visits the patient in rare cases. Instead, he reviews the performance of the attending physician by looking through the medical records. Depending on the size of the documents, it may take several months for the report to be ready.

Patient advisor advises a memory protocol
The patient adviser advises to create a memory protocol from the time of treatment, whereby also the health insurance helps. It is also important if there are any witnesses, such as room neighbors in the hospital, who have heard something of discussions with the doctors. In addition, Schlund recommends having a copy of the patient record handed over .: „That makes a lot of sense, some mistakes are documented.“ As she explains, private patients can also request such an opinion from the insurance companies. Private patients, however, have the disadvantage that their insurance is not obliged to initiate a report.

Total number of treatment errors can only be estimated
A doctor must also adhere to the duty of care during cosmetic surgery. However, it is an aesthetic question, whether the operated nose corresponds to the desired result or the figure has become really beautiful through lipoplasty. „That is therefore not automatically a health damage“, explains throat. „It's about visual results. That's a matter of taste.“ According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the total number of treatment errors in Germany can only be estimated. The assumptions range from 40,000 to 170,000 a year. In about two-thirds of the cases the treatment errors in the inpatient area (clinics) would happen and the remaining third would occur in medical practices. However, in a statement of the Federal Medical Association last year it was made clear that „the number of reported treatment errors, measured in terms of the total number of around 18 million treatment cases in hospitals and more than 540 million in the contracted medical sector alone, in the per thousand range“ emotional. (Sb)