Patient compensation claims rising in the region

New Civil Code in the Czech Republic removed in 2014 all practical limits to the amount of patient compensation. This has indirectly caused patients to increase their demands in the event of making compensation claims. Hospitals and healthcare providers are looking to cover themselves for the eventuality of litigation or out-of-court settlement. RENOMIA EUROPEAN PARTNERS can assist the hospitals as a professional consultant who analyzes all risks and designs a suitable insurance cover.

"The fact that all of them are insured, however, does not mean that healthcare providers are adequately insured. The law does not specify a minimum insurance limit and leaves it to healthcare providers. Most often, healthcare providers are insured for EUR 1 million per claim and year in the Czech Republic.  However, the limit may be exhausted by even a single serious insurance claim,” explains Martina Kapiczová, MEDICAL Insurance Specialist at RENOMIA.

Primarily, claims seek compensation for damage to health - death, lasting consequences, pain and physical suffering, psychological trauma and social deprivation, but some involve material losses, e.g. loss of earnings, cost of treatment, necessary home adaptation, etc.

“We have been recently seeing a rise in non-material claims, which are being filed not just by patients, but the range of plaintiffs has been expanding to include the family who are also seeking compensation for violation of personality, privacy or family rights,” adds Kapiczová.

A huge difference is also in the amount of liability limits for inpatient facilities (hospitals), which account for up to 90% of the total insurance benefit from professional liability insurance. While in Eastern European countries, the limits range from EUR 0.5 to 5 million, the upper limit in Western Europe can be as high as EUR 50 million (e.g. Germany, France and Italy). In the Czech Republic, the upper limit is around 2.5 million euros.