Thomas Werner

Get sick soon - infections in hospitals on the rise

Medical malpractice is not the only risk factor insurers have to contend with in hospitals. There is now an increasing risk of contracting infectious diseases there, which has resulted in a new loss potential for liability insurers.

Surgeons who perform operations when they are suffering from infectious diseases; mysterious viruses which spread via air-conditioning systems and the water supply, or inflammations from penicillin-resistant strains of bacteria are increasingly becoming a nightmare for hospital patients.

It is no longer the case that only individuals are the potential victims of an infection, but rather the patients of an entire ward, or all patients treated within a certain period. This opens completely new dimensions of loss exposure for the liability insurers of hospitals.

Beware of Infectious diseases caused by blood transfusions

The main cause of infections remains contact with unsterilized surfaces, apparatus, or instruments. However, these are usually isolated cases, whose rate of frequency of 1.5-3% is unlikely to be reduced any further given the use of disposable instruments and efficient sterilization methods already in use. The liability insurer will always be faced with a certain number of such claims, depending on the legal position and evidence available.

A significantly greater loss potential, especially in terms of serial losses, is posed by infectious diseases caused by blood transfusions, either in cases where the blood is taken from the hospital's own blood bank, or in cases where the hospital fails to take due care in selecting and checking the blood product to be administered.

In future, experts will have to be much more critical in assessing the risk development of airborne infections at hospitals. In an environment where there is inevitably a higher concentration of germs, it is primarily poor maintenance of air-conditioning systems, a lack of filters owing to cost restraints and also inadequate inspections that allow dangerous viruses and bacteria to worsen the condition of already weakened patients and even cause lasting damage.

For liability insurers, this scenario means that, unless they take timely and effective risk management measures, they may well be faced with a rising loss frequency and increased overall claims expenditure per event due to the effect of serial losses.