As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the director of KBC Zagreb, Dr. Ante Corusic, stated that the hospital rejected the settlement because there is no evidence that the woman became infected with the novel coronavirus during her stay at the hospital.
”We took all possible measures to provide protection against coronavirus that were possible at the time,” he added.
Whether or not the family of the individual in question will file a lawsuit isn’t yet known. But regardless of this case involving the very first Croatian damage claim, there is a possibility that lawsuits related to coronavirus will be significantly more frequent given that the pandemic is not yet over.
During the last year in healthcare institutions across the country, there were guidelines in place that provided a certain level of protection against the infection of healthcare workers, and then patients, but with them the possibility of transmission remained significant, and the reasons for lawsuits are, owing to that, rather limited. However, from the moment the vaccine was made available, safety was significantly increased, but only if healthcare professionals chose to get vaccinated first.
This is the reason why in some EU countries vaccination is mandatory for them, such as in Italy, France, Greece and Hungary. Unfortunately, the situation with vaccination of healthcare professionals here in Croatia is still bad. It is true that doctors in Croatia have been vaccinated, at least more than 80 percent of them have, but nurses and technicians have only just reached half.
Namely, this case from KBC Zagreb actually has no basis on “gross negligence or intent to infect” if it happened in the hospital. It was a patient who came to the hospital as they had sustained a rib injury caused by a fall. She was tested and was negative for the virus at the time. Sadly, as it often happens, just a few days later, she returned a positive test. She was then transferred to KB Dubrava, where she unfortunately died on December the 6th. KBC Zagreb pointed out that all protocols in regard to coronavirus were respected.
“It’s very important when deciding whether a patient is entitled to compensation or not to determine whether everything based on the guidelines of the profession has been taken into account in order to protect against infection,” explained lawyer Ana Gruber of this Croatian damage claim case.
”It’s precisely because of coronavirus that over in the United States, where the submitting of claims is an almost daily occurrence, changes to the laws governing compensation in most states have been made since the beginning of the pandemic, ensuring “civil immunity to claims related to the spread of coronavirus except in limited situations involving gross negligence, willful and reckless conduct of reckless harm or intentional harm,” she noted.
In other words, hardly anyone could get compensation associated with coronavirus until the vaccine appeared and was made available.
The answer from the Ministry of Health as to how we might proceed with the continued vaccination of healthcare professionals, ie whether or not mandatory vaccination will be introduced, is somewhat pitiful.
“The possibility of introducing new health protection measures within the healthcare system will depend on the epidemiological situation in the future, as well as the joint measures adopted by the competent authorities. On this track, a document is being harmonised at the professional level that will take into account the current epidemiological situation related to safety in health care institutions.”
Although there is no definite answer “yes” or “no” to the mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers, it is clearly stated by the Ministry that compensation should be paid by the hospital to either the infected patient or the infected employee in successful damage claims.
Can the hospital then be protected from having to pay out compensation in a Croatian damage claim case caused by an employee who simply doesn’t want to be vaccinated? Hospital directors believe that institutions should have an additional “tool” with which they could hold employees accountable for their non-vaccination, Jutarnji list writes.
“The moment a vaccine arrives, the situation changes because there’s an additional possibility of protection. If doctors or nurses aren’t vaccinated and a patient becomes infected with coronavirus, then it can be demonstrated that not all protection measures available to the hospital have been taken.
Whether the compensation should be paid out by the hospital itself or by an unvaccinated worker must be decided by the competent authorities. A possible solution is, for example, for the hospital to ask its employees for a statement confirming that they don’t want to be vaccinated, but that they also accept compensation for possible damage,” concluded Gruber.
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