General information about the doctor's liability from a patient's point of view

Legally speaking, when a doctor treats a patient, a contract covering medical treatment comes to being. This also applies if the doctor does not charge a fee or a third party like a social insurance agency bears the costs.
Subsequently, the doctor is obliged to due medical treatment and the patient (or the health insurance company) is obliged to pay the medical fees.

On the basis of this contract, a service agreement, the doctor is not expected to achieve a certain amount of success - he cannot guarantee healing the patient - but to professionally endeavour to heal or relieve the medical condition. If he infringes this duty, one speaks of medical malpractice meaning the doctor is obliged to compensate the patient.

The doctor's obligations

The doctor is obliged to primary and secondary obligations contained in the contract covering medical treatment.

The primary obligation of the doctor is the treatment in line with the regulations of medical healing.
The doctor must take all measures necessary to recognize the patient's medical condition. In doing so, he must initiate all measures and treatment that come up to the latest medical technology. This includes both the professional and proper diagnosis and the right treatment.

In addition, the doctor underlies secondary obligations.
He has to explain to the patient in a comprehensible way, what he is considering doing in the scope of the diagnosis and the treatment thereafter (duty to inform patient).

The patient must be informed about the extent, consequences and risks of the diagnostic measures. The following applies: the more intensive the physical intervention is, the more comprehensively the doctor has to explain everything to the patient. This applies to operations in particular, which may not be carried out without written consent anyway, unless they are emergency measures.

Further secondary obligations of the doctor are the complete documentation of his actions and the presentation of the medical documentation for inspection, should the patient request this.

Compensation and damage

If the doctor culpably breaches his medical obligations and if the patient suffers damage due to this fact (material damage or physical damage in the form of psychological or physical impairments), a claim for damage can be the result. Claims for damage and compensation can be lodged simultaneously.
When it comes to the amount of smart money, do not, however, expect "American-style" payments. Legislation in Germany has always been very restrictive. As well as that, it depends on the individual case meaning you should not be guided by compensation tables alone.

Evidence

When enforcing claims, there are often problems with the evidence.

Did the doctor act contrary to duty and negligently? Is the damage put down to how the doctor acted?

At that, evidentiary advantages can result for the patient. If it becomes apparent that a gross breach of the doctor's duty, a significant lack of documentation or blatant, incorrect information was provided, not the patient is obliged to prove the connection between incorrect treatment and damage. In fact, the doctor himself has to prove there is no connection.

In most cases, this is very difficult for the doctor; the shifting of the burden of proof is thus often decisive for the enforcement of a patient's claim, especially in processes.

Conclusion

Before you undertake any steps yourself, which could weaken your situation, you should obtain legal advice from us.

Contact ALEGOS
now and describe your legal problem.