🤝 Advice, complaints and contact points
In brief
You do not have to work out alone what you are entitled to.
The Stiftung Unabhängige Patientenberatung Deutschland advises free of charge and independently. This applies to people with statutory insurance, private insurance and no insurance. The advice hotline is 0800 011 77 22.
You can direct complaints about doctors to the responsible medical chamber. For errors there are expert commissions and arbitration boards. Your health insurer helps under § 66 SGB V.
For IGeL the Verbraucherzentrale also helps.
Step by step
- Call for adviceCall the free UPD advice hotline or use the written advice.
- Have documents readyHave your record, notices of decision and notes ready.
- Write your complaintWrite factually what happened and what you expect.
- Get legal adviceFor damages, get advice from a lawyer.
Deadlines
- Advice hours can change; check the foundation's website.
- Advice is not legal representation. For lawsuits you usually need a lawyer.
- Local bodies and complaints offices of the federal states were not researched here.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Stiftung Unabhängige Patientenberatung Deutschland (UPD)
According to its own information, the UPD foundation is a non-profit institution that informs and advises free of charge and independently. The service is available by telephone, on site and in writing through a secure online portal, and is open to people with statutory insurance, private insurance and no insurance. Telephone 0800 011 77 22 (free of charge); website patientenberatung.de. Its remit includes questions on patients' rights, medicines and health and long-term care insurance.
Complaints and error review
The medical chambers run expert commissions and arbitration boards (aerztekammern-schlichten.de); you can get the address of the responsible body from the state medical chamber (Landesärztekammer). Complaints under professional law to the medical chamber, the complaints offices of clinics and Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen (associations of statutory health insurance physicians) and the role of the patient commissioners were not examined in detail.
Other bodies
The health insurer supports under § 66 SGB V. The Verbraucherzentrale provides information on IGeL. Second-opinion doctors can be found via 116117.de. For damages lawsuits, representation by a lawyer is an option; the bar associations (Rechtsanwaltskammern) and lawyers' associations keep lists of specialist lawyers (not examined here).
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.