Economic interests Patients are often treated for no medical reason

Many medical treatments are performed for no medical reason

According to a recent study, medical decisions in German hospitals are often influenced by economic interests. The reason for this is the cost pressure on the clinics.

There is a lot of surgery in German hospitals

Again and again it is criticized that in German clinics too much and too fast operated. Many operations are unnecessary, experts warned years ago. A recent study by the University of Bremen now shows that financial interests seem to play a role in why many patients in German hospitals are treated for no medical reason.

According to a recent study, medical decisions in German hospitals are often influenced by financial interests. Many patients are treated for no medical reason. (Image: bmf-foto.de/fotolia.com)

Health interests at the center?

If the patient is really at the center of his or her health interests, he / she will be admitted to the hospital, treated there and discharged?

Is the observed steady increase in case numbers and degrees of complexity of diseases solely due to medical needs?

Does the orientation of the clinics correspond to the health needs of the population? Or are these developments an expression of an "economization process" that increasingly blends medical indications with economic interests?

These and other questions were debated at the closing event of the study conducted by Professors Heinz Naegler (Berlin) and Professor Karl-Heinz Wehkamp of the Socium Research Center of the University of Bremen.

For the scientific investigation, the two scientists interviewed about 60 physicians and managing directors from hospitals in twelve federal states, as the "NDR" reported.

The results will soon be published as a book (Medicine in the hospital between patient welfare and economization of the Medical Scientific Publishing House, Berlin).

Doctors offer more profitable treatments

As the study shows, the well-being of patients is not always the top priority. According to Professor Wehkamp, ​​it happens nationwide that patients are treated for no medical reason in the hospital.

"The system is at the expense of patients and medicine," said the doctor, according to a message from the news agency dpa. The hospital staff is also under enormous pressure.

"The results of the qualitative study presented show the dilemmas faced by managing directors and physicians when they need to make a profit in order to safeguard the economic viability of the clinics," states a statement from the University of Bremen.

According to the analysis, for example, physicians offer more profitable treatment procedures. In addition, the concentration of work among staff is responsible for health risks.

Consider patients more closely

"It is shocking that the policy does not want to take note of this," said Wehkamp in the dpa message in view of the alarming conditions in many hospitals.

"With this deficit of basic funding, they can make even with a reasonably decent personnel policy very difficult profits," said the expert.

"If patient welfare were consistently taken into account as a benchmark for patient and business decisions, the number of inpatients would be lower and treatment processes could be more careful, more anticipatory and less aggressive," the statement said.

According to the experts, the hospital workplace would be "more attractive and healthier, and the skills shortage problem would also be lower. Assuming, of course, that there were enough specialist staff available and that the pressure of hospitals to make profits for the future was reduced. "(Ad)