[Liability for chronic working time violations in medicine: when does the risk of fines and imprisonment loom?]

Abstract

Against the background of the changes in the collective bargaining agreement-for municipal hospitals in the version of January 1, 2021, and for university hospitals in the version of March 7, 2020-this article deals with the legal consequences of chronic violations of the German Working Hours Act in medicine, but especially in surgical specialties such as urology. It includes an overview of current law and sanctions for violations and highlights responsibilities as well as exceptions. It is important to clarify the distribution of responsibilities with regard to working hours in the institution concerned in order to avoid fines and, in the worst case, imprisonment. It should also be clear who is liable in specific cases for persistent working time violations. When changing duty models, it is important to bear in mind that this can lead to a considerable deterioration in the opportunities for further training and education of physicians, meaning that in the long term the compatibility of further training in line with working hours can only be achieved with sufficient staffing of the hospitals. In some cases, this is diametrically opposed to economic interests in the health care system and thus presents an almost insoluble dilemma. In the view of the working group, structural changes in the diagnosis-related group (DRG)-based inpatient sector are needed in the near future.