Legal assistance for industrial accidents | Legal aid centre

Questioner

I recently had an accident at my internship and my hand was stuck. I was lucky enough to pull my hand out but it left me with a large open wound. My internship supervisor rushed me to the emergency room. Here they rejected me without looking at my wound and told me that I had to go to my GP for a referral first. Are you allowed to reject someone at the hospital without looking at the severity of the wound? I have insurance but I am not even allowed to use the emergency room. In the end, my GP gave me stitches on this wound.

Lawyer

How unfortunate that you had an accident at work. I hope you recover quickly and completely. The hospital has the duty to help you in life-threatening situations. Apparently they have estimated that it is not life-threatening. Then they are allowed to refer you to the family doctor because you are not allowed to be treated by a hospital without a referral from a family doctor. This also has to do with health insurance and is in your own interest. The deductible for a visit to the emergency room of the hospital is approximately € 250, - and you must therefore pay if your deductible has not yet been used up. The visit to the family doctor is not covered by the deductible. Apparently it was also possible that your GP could treat the wound well, so it was not necessary to be treated in hospital. By the way, you may be able to recover any damages you have suffered from your employer. If you wish, I may be able to help you with that. I have experience with industrial accidents.