Crime in the Saxon Healthcare Sector

With around 45,000 employees, Saxon hospitals rank among the largest employers in the state. In addition, numerous companies in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, as well as various research institutes, are located in Saxony, particularly in and around Dresden.

Where large numbers of people regularly interact, crime inevitably occurs. The healthcare sector is no exception; on the contrary, scandals such as the famous heart valve affair repeatedly make headlines and leave lasting impressions on patients and contributors. Not only does trust in medical care decrease, but the financial damage to insured persons is also significant, as the losses caused by criminal acts in healthcare must be offset through higher contributions. Since the financial impact is not always directly felt by individuals, and causality to criminal acts may be unclear, law enforcement and crime prevention are often hampered. As Frank Hofmann notes: “The chances of effective prosecution decrease as the victim’s presence becomes more abstract. The more abstract the protected legal interest, the less personally felt the threat, the more impersonal the damage, the greater the distance between offender and victim, and the more anonymous the victim, the lower the chance of effective prosecution.” (Source: krimlex.de, translation) It is therefore vital that victims do not look away. The commercial investigators of the Kurtz Detective Agency Dresden are available for investigations into any suspicions you may have: +49 351 41 88 44 70.

Some interesting case examples of healthcare-related crimes have been compiled by Transparency International e. V.

Billing Fraud and Corruption

Opportunities for criminal activity in healthcare are diverse: billing for medical services for deceased patients, billing for prescriptions or treatments that were never performed, billing for a greater scope of services than actually rendered, bribery in the allocation of transplants, bribery in medication selection, and more. The perpetrators are primarily doctors, pharmacists, and pharmaceutical corporations, but insured persons and employers also commit offences in significant numbers.

The financial stakes in healthcare are high; the total budget can approach the size of the federal budget. Transparency International Germany estimates the annual financial loss due to corruption in healthcare at between 6 and 20 billion euros.

Beyond the purely economic factor, healthcare crime carries an especially sensitive component: the right to health and the fundamental right (Art. 2 GG) to life and physical integrity. Anyone who commits fraud in healthcare directly or indirectly threatens these rights. The health of others is not a gamble for personal gain. Misconduct in healthcare must be consistently investigated and punished. The IHK-certified detectives of the Kurtz Detective Agency Dresden are your professional partners for discreet and legally compliant investigations.

Possible Offences in the Healthcare Sector by Patients

Of course patients and insured persons can also commit offences in the healthcare sector. These are mostly various forms of benefit abuse. An incomplete list includes:

• Feigning illnesses
• Lending out the health insurance card (possibly for payment)
• Prescription forgery
• Coercion and extortion of doctors, pharmacists or other medical personnel

Possible Offences in the Healthcare Sector by Employers

Employers also commit offences related to the healthcare sector, including:

• Illegal employment (undeclared work)
• Evasion of contributions
• Registering fictitious employees to obtain benefits for personal use
• Falsely declaring employment relationships for relatives and friends to obtain benefits unlawfully