Treatment injury

A treatment injury is the most common compensable injury. A compensable treatment injury is a bodily injury which was caused by an examination, treatment or other similar action performed on the patient, or the failure to do so. The term “other similar action” refers to, for example, a vaccination and blood or organ donation. An injury caused by an erroneous prescription or dosage of drugs may also be compensated for as a treatment injury.

A prerequisite for compensation is that an experienced medical professional would have performed a different procedure in the examination or treatment situation in question, thereby avoiding the injury. Consequently, a treatment injury may be, for example, a post-operative complication, such as a nerve injury or a delay in diagnosis, which could have been avoided by an experienced professional.

The content and level of proficiency required from experienced healthcare personnel varies. For example, a general practitioner at a healthcare centre and a specialist at a university hospital have different requirements.