Hi everyone!

6 weeks ago I had a work accident (a mirror that wasn't fixed to the wall fell on my toe and broke it). I went to A&E and I had an Xray done, they told me I had a complex fracture and I had to have my toes buddy taped and wear a special shoe (Which I complained it was too small but the nurse said that it was my size). 4 weeks later I went back for a follow up appointment and a second xray. I was suffering severe pains, my toe had a purple/red tone and I told him that it seemed bent to one side. I told all this to the doctor and he said that there was nothing wrong and that he could see on the xray that it was healing properly, he also told me to stop buddy taping it and to stop wearing the special shoe.
They gave me a date for my final appointment (which was yesterday), and I had a different doctor, who opened the same xray the other doctor saw, and said that there's a clear dislocation on the bone, and that it's not healing in the right way and the pain should've gone a few weeks ago. He admitted that the other doctor was wrong and now I should go back to buddy tapping and to wear the special shoe (they gave me one of my right size this time, as they said the other one was too small). He also told me that the toe will seal crooked and I will live with a bent toe for the rest of my life.

I'm thinking about taking action against the hospital (or the doctor) for a life lasting injury and possibly filing for compensation.
Does anyone know the best way to go about this?

Thank you

I would even if I didn't make any money out of it. Some doctors are awful and they deserve the pain of a lawsuit.

That said, I know nothing about lawsuits in Switzerland and whether it is a good idea or not. Do you have legal insurance? Look into Legis Duo, although I do not know if they could cover such a case and obviously if you don't already have it they wouldn't cover this case but future ones.

Move to the US and file there.

Tom

P.S. Even there they won't care, I have a finger that is less than straight, no chance of malpractice even in the US (we tried, only cost me money).

Seems like you left a few bits out since you posted on the toe saga the last time! Rule one be consistent in your story, rule two make sure it is consistent with the medical bills you’ll be required to disclose other wise you are on a looser.

The other post was before I had the follow up appointment. What I'm talking about is something I found out 2 follow up appointments after that post. In the other one I was complaining about the treatment given when I first had the accident, which I'm still unhappy with.

Previous thread here:
https://www.englishforum.ch/family-m...ch-zurich.html

I can understand if you want the first doctor to cover any costs that you've paid out of pocket, but what "compensation" do you want? Pain and suffering? Having a functional but not pretty toe?

At this stage it may still be early enough for surgical intervention (I have no clue) so the idea you want to pursue compensation now for "lifelong" problems seems a tad premature.

This has nothing to do with the first doctor, but with another one who took me out of the recovering treatment ignoring the pain and not informing me about the dislocation that happened weeks after the accident. Another doctor saw the same xray and admited that the doctor did wrong telling me that it was healing properly and he shouldn't ignore the pain and it was pretty clear on the xray that the bone wasn't healing and it dislocated.

The other thread has nothing to do with this as I was just asking for advice about good hospitals in Zurich because I didn't like the treatment in the first hospital, but again, this thread has nothing to do with the staff that I mentioned on the previous post, but with a specific doctor who gave me a wrong diagnosis and took me out of treatment ignoring my concerns and pain

You could contact this firm.

https://www.schadenanwaelte.ch/medical-negligence/

However in your shoes, which unfortunately I have been in, I would focus on getting the correct treatment.

I understood he couldn't get into his own shoes !!

Medicine is in many ways an art rather than a science. It's only malpractice if the doctor was negligent in not giving a correct diagnosis. Mistakes happen.

GreenS, you really need to understand how very different the legal situation is here.

Medical mistakes do happen here, but there is not a similar concept of malpractice here as you might have experience of elsewhere.

That does not mean the patient is completely without rights, however. In addition to the legal firm Mrs D linked, a possible starting point, likely less expensive at least for an initial inquiry, would be the SPO, the Swiss Patientenschutz Organisation, here:

https://www.spo.ch

They can answer general questions about patient's rights and if warranted refer you to outside experts to continue looking into your case. Be aware that there is a cost to their services, detailed here:
https://www.spo.ch/angebote/beratung/

You could start by contacting them for advice. Be advised you need to be as clear, concise, and unemotional as possible in describing your situation.

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A cautionary tale:

I know a few people who were incorrectly treated by doctors here. One egregious case might show you how very difficult it can be to pursue a claim here:

An incorrect diagnosis and unnecessary surgery incorrectly performed by a doctor not even qualified to do this surgery left a patient handicapped, in constant pain, unable to live a normal life. All the expert doctors she saw in trying to correct the mistakes made and treat her on-going pain agreed that the initial diagnosis was wrong, the surgery unnecessary and shockingly badly done.

She tried to pursue a claim with the hospital not for compensation but merely for an acknowledgement of the multiple errors... nothing. Nada. She finally gave up, as the effort to pursue this was sapping what little strength she had, her energy would be better used trying to find a way to live with her new reality.

(She is as Eidgenoss as they come, by the way, she knows her way around the system. And still pursuing a case proved to a Sisyphesian effort.)


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So think long and hard about what you want to do, and most importantly about what a realistic goal would be. Make initial inquiries of the SPO, of the law firm Mrs D linked. But be aware of the cost to you of pursuing this, in both financial terms and in terms of your own efforts expended.


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While I am grateful to live in a system that does not have the crazy liability laws (protection against which drive prices sky high) of my home country, while I unequivocally do not want to go in that direction, I would like to see some more accountability from medical professionals here. There needs to be some sort of check on bad treatment - I just don't know what a 'middle ground' might be.

Some kind of arbitration mechanism alongs the lines of a "Truth and Reconciliation commission" might be start.

Your groan on the first post makes no sense after you admit you tried to sue your doctor in the US. Give advice? Yes. Groan? No.

This.

My daughter's kindergarten teacher has missed a few months from work because she was misdiagnosed 3 or 4 times guess where, of all places? Zurich University Hospital.....I rest my case.

Btw, she's as Swiss as you can get. (don't think her folks have lived in the same valley for the last 500 years though...)

*no, they can't blame it on the lack of adequate equipments and financial resources and stuff like in other places....and even so, doctors do go to prison for malpractice in much poorer places.

What are you going to sue for?
People sue in the US because of the poor medical/accident coverage available there and suing the doctor/hospital is the easiest way of getting your costs covered.
That's not necessary here (or in most other countries for that matter). Your medical costs are being covered by your accident insurance so you aren't out of pocket.
Anything else you sue for is emotional and the process itself will simply make you feel even worse.

I always perceived the law to originate from a matter of principles… not from monetary arrangements.

The thread to which you are replying has not been updated for several years.

And the OP has not been seen since 2019 either