In English

If you are injured in healthcare

Information about the Swedish patient insurance

If you suffer an avoidable injury in healthcare, you may be entitled to compensation under the Swedish Patient Injury Act. All of Sweden’s county councils and regions are insured under Löf, the Swedish patient insurance. We insure approximately 90% of Sweden’s healthcare providers and you, the patient, are automatically insured through your healthcare provider. Each year, over 20,000 patient injuries are registered with Löf. Approximately one third of those injuries are approved for compensation.

This site provides some simple information about our patient insurance scheme. All investigation and assessment are carried out in accordance with current legislation and the applicable terms and conditions.

Injuries caused prior to 31 December 2014

You must report an injury within three years of having become aware:

that the injury is objectively noticeable
that the injury may be linked to a treatment and patient compensation is possible
of which insurer the insurance claim is to be presented to.

There is an ultimate time limit of ten years calculated from the time when the injury was caused.

Injuries caused from 1 January 2015 onwards

You must register an injury within ten years from the time when the injury was caused.

What does the insurance cover?

If the injury could have been avoided

In order for an injury to be compensated, it must have been avoidable. All medical and dental care treatment involves risks of complications that are
unavoidable. No compensation is paid for such complications.

Material damage

If your injury was caused by a fault in, or incorrect handling of, equipment, instruments or other devices used within medical or dental care, you may be entitled to compensation.

Incorrect or delayed diagnosis

If a diagnosis is delayed, you may be compensated if the delay caused your health to be worse than would have been the case if the diagnosis had been made in time.

Infections

Operations always involve a risk of infection. Compensation may be paid if the infectious agent was transmitted as a result of care and treatment. However, no compensation is paid if the infection is caused by your own bacteria or if you were treated for a life-threatening condition.

Accidents

Compensation may be paid if the injury was caused by an accident in connection with medical or dental care during medical transportation or due to damaged care facilities or equipment. You will not normally receive compensation if, for instance, you fall on the way to the toilet or similar.

Incorrect medication

If the injury is due to a medicine prescribed inappropriately, you may be entitled to compensation. Side effects of correctly prescribed medicines can be reported to the Pharmaceutical Insurer (Läkemedelsförsäkringen).

What does the insurance not cover?

Traffic injuries and work injuries

If you have suffered a traffic injury, your traffic insurance will normally compensate any resultant injuries when you are treated for the traffic injury. In the event of a work injury, you should first turn to AFA Insurance.

Private care

Doctors in private practice or dentists without a care agreement with the county council/region and municipal care have taken out patient insurance with other insurance companies. If you are unsure about which insurance company you should contact, you can get the information from your healthcare provider.

Damage to property

Loss of personal possessions will not be compensated by the patient insurance. An example of this may be that your glasses are broken, your wallet or purse has been stolen or your dentures have disappeared. Issues relating, for instance, to the way you are treated or resources within medical and dental care are not covered by the patient insurance. You can take these issues up with the county council’s or region’s Patient or Health and Medical Advisory Board.

Dissatisfaction with care

Have you experienced anything in healthcare that made you unhappy, angry or disappointed? In the first instance, you should contact the reception or department where you were treated. If something goes wrong in the care, it is the care provider who is obliged to investigate what happened. You can also contact the operations manager at the care facility where you were treated.

If you have questions or need help in contacting the healthcare provider, you can turn to the region’s Patient or Health and Medical Advisory Board. The patient boards are independent bodies that facilitate contact between patients and care providers. For example, it may be good to first consult with the patient boards about what is appropriate in the individual case, as there are several authorities to turn to for complaints against health and dental care. For more information, visit www.1177.se.

Patient insurance in brief

You can get compensation:

for injuries that could have been avoided
for injuries caused by errors or incorrect handling of medicinal products or medical equipment
for injuries caused by incorrect or delayed diagnosis
if an infectious agent was transmitted during treatment and led to infection
for certain accident injuries
for injuries caused by incorrect medication.

You cannot get compensation:

if the injury is reported too late
for loss of personal possessions
for injuries and complications that could not have
been avoided
if an infection was caused by your own bacteria or if the disease you were treated for was more serious than the infection
if you suffer side-effects from correctly prescribed medicines
for injuries resulting from correct treatment of a directly life-threatening condition.

Registering an injury

You must decide yourself whether to register an injury claim.

You can report your injury (in Swedish) on our website by logging in with your Bank ID to “Mina sidor” (My pages) and then filling in your details. You can also download a registration form (claims report) in English from our website.

Claims report

Claims report, in English (pdf)

About Löf

Löf (Löf regionernas ömsesidiga försäkringsbolag) is a nationwide Swedish insurance company whose main task is to insure publicly financed health care providers. Our final customers are patients who have suffered an avoidable injury caused by health care. Our mission is to evaluate and give financial compensation to patients injured in health care and to contribute to a reduction in the number of health care related injuries.

Löf is a mutual insurance company owned by its policy holders, the Swedish counties and regions. The company has an annual turnover of approx. 1.5 billion SEK and a balance sheet total of approx. 15 billion SEK.

We are a staff of about 200 employees working with insurance, settlement and patient safety. Our office is located in the centre of Stockholm.