More patients will have compensation from health care

In the first quarter of this year received the Norwegian Patients 1,157 new claims from patients who want money for treatment failure and the wrong treatment.

This is an increase of 15 percent compared to first quarter last year.

Some of this increase is explained by the private sector. January 2009 was incorporated into patients injury scheme. But this is not the only reason.

The increase in case volume this year is actually slightly larger in the public sector than in the private sector, says Deputy Director Rolf Gunnar Jørstad in Norwegian Patients (NPE).

He believes that media coverage of patient harm and error treatments in health care means that more patients require replacement.

We assume that the huge media focus on the failure of health care that has been recently, with, among other things, list the case on the Asker and Bærum Hospital and maternity cases at Kongsberg Hospital may have contributed to more reporting requirements, “says Jorstad.

Better knowledge of erstatningsordningen and a general trend where people are becoming more aware of their rights also probably plays a role, he believes.

Source: Aftenbladet