This is a situation I don't know enough about, and have been asked to find out more. It's to do with an accident, and incorrect treatment by doctors.
A child fell, bumping into a glass vase that shattered and cut her head. With blood everywhere, the parents took her to hospital, where the doctors - without taking any images - dressed the wound and stitched it up. Over the next few days the child reported pain and had clear difficulty turning her head, so the parents took her back to hospital, where different doctors were surprised that their colleagues had not made images to start with. They ordered some, and found a significant glass shard in the child's head, which then had to be removed surgically.
This was a while ago. At the time, a doctor in a non-hospital practice handed the parents a form and told them to claim compensation from... somewhere... possibly the hospital, possibly a government authority. The parents, however, were too traumatised to do so then, and now they no longer have that form and no-one can remember the details. The doctor who issued it is no longer working, so cannot be asked.
Now, the parents are ready to do the paperwork.
I do know that "compensation" in Switzerland is a completely different matter from in some other countries, and that here it typically covers only real costs incurred, rather than massive sums to make the persons involved feel better about their pain and suffering. Even so, the doctor who gave the parents That Form did say, then, that the fault of the hospital doctors could result in a payment.
Please, could anyone help me work out what that form could have been? Or offer any other advice from the law or from experience? This is in the Canton of Zurich. Thank you.
And a comment based on a friend's experience: It will be key to have realistic expectations.
My friend was misdiagnosed, which led to that doctor doing an unnecessary surgery, and it turned out he was not even qualified to do that surgery. An error was made during the surgery, leaving my friend disabled. A whole cascade of mistakes with a tragic outcome.
All the doctors she subsequently saw agreed that this was blatant egregious medical error, but none could support her against a fellow doctor.
And even with all the documentation she had, even with support of the patient's organization, after ages of looking for a remedy from 'the system' in the end she was told that there was no point in pursuing the complaint. Her 'compensation' for loss of ability to work was that she was now eligible for IV - and that was the best she could hope for.
(And running the IV gauntlet has not been easy either.)
In the end the system beat her down. She now just tries to live her life as best she can, in chronic pain with limited mobility.
This was some years ago; I gather that Switzerland has become a bit more 'patient friendly' today. I hope your friends have a better outcome.
Thank you, meloncollie. What a frustrating long haul for your friend! Yes, I know a number of cases along similar lines.
While I think it is silly for people to be awarded huge sums for accidents that were their own stupid fault (like that old story of the woman - not in Switzerland! - who burnt her legs when she put a cup of hot McDonalds coffee between her knees, so she could drive, and was then awarded compensation for pain and suffering because she had not been warned (!) that the contents would be hot); it is hell when a patient has a real ailment, unavoidable by them or having occurred through the fault of others, and then gets sucked into the system which, knowing no mercy and taking little account of plain reality, drains their remaining energy.
Yes, I am tempering those parents' expectations. Fortunately, unlike your friend, they don't need the money just to survive.
Thanks for the links, too, melloncollie and ASwissInTheUS.
The case you are referring to is more complex than the meme it has become. The facts of the case are often ignored in the rush to paint this as 'crazy lawsuit culture'. This is a summary of the issues, painting a rather different picture from the general perception of the case:
"On February 27, 1992, Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from the drive-through window of an Albuquerque McDonald's restaurant at 5001 Gibson Boulevard Southeast. Liebeck was in the passenger's seat of a 1989 Ford Probe, which did not have cup holders. Her grandson parked the car so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Liebeck placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. In the process, she spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. Liebeck was wearing cotton sweatpants; they absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin."
If it was a hospital, then they surely are the ones to contact.
I suffered an additional trauma while in hospital for something else and they immediately recognised the malpractice or causation of one of the staff there that caused it. In my case there was nothing specific more to do, no surgery etc. only time would heal it. However it did incapacitate me further and they offered home help as part of the compensation or treatment when I got out. I know they were dealing with insurance and there was a protocol to be followed and obviously an office in the hospital that handled these things regularly. I did not want the extra help or anything else so left it at that. Them handling it professionally with apologies etc. was enough. Maybe some of the extra pain medicaments were on their bill instead of my insurance but in the end it was peanuts.
Yes, melloncollie posted some facts on this case, to correct my approximated version.
Even after I'd read what you and what she had posted, (and while I'm sorry for the woman for having suffered burns) the story is still foreign, to me. With or without a warning by the staff of a take-away, or printed on the cup, I would just never have the notion to hold a cup of very hot liquid between my knees, let alone one with a lid I'd have to pull off, and thereafter expect someone else to cover the costs and to compensate me for the suffering from my foolish deeds.