Issuing sick leave certificates. Norwegian Nav published another list of doctors who lost the opportunity to issue sick leave certificates. The reason for this decision of the Office of Labor and Social Policy is, as you can easily guess, medical errors and a serious violation of the law. What is becoming disturbing is the fact that new names are constantly appearing on the "blacklist" of doctors. In which region are the most doctors no longer allowed to write sick notes? Will this number increase?
Which regions have the most doctors with limited rights?
So far, all doctors who will lose the right to issue sick leave work in the Vestlandet and Østlandet regions. It cannot be clearly stated that these are representatives of one specific specialization. However, it can be noticed that many general practitioners are among those deprived of their rights. The latest statistics confirm that in recent years the number of doctors who have limited professional rights is constantly growing. In 2014, only one doctor was deprived of the ability to write sick notes. In 2018, 9 doctors lost such rights, this year the list was expanded by 12 more names.
What mistakes did the doctors make?
You are surely wondering what mistakes were made by the doctors who so far have been deprived of the right to issue sick leave. The most common offenses include:
- issuing sick leave for a long period of time only for basis symptoms,
- lack of detailed tests and analyzes before issuing a leave of absence,
- untimely delivery of necessary documentation to Nav,
- issuing sick leaves with a retrospective date,
- defective medical documentation.
Doctors lose the ability to prescribe sick leave for a period of 6 months up to 5 years.
False sick leave is a gateway to benefit fraud
Issuing sick leaves - false ones - may become a gateway to fraud from the state benefits pensions and benefits.
“Sick leave that was issued in violation of the law may be the basis for receiving both sick pay, pension and arbeidsavklaringspenger (i.e. means having help people return to work after long-term illnesses). We are talking about payouts of really large amounts here.” - says Ole Johan Heir, director of the Nav Control Department in an interview with Aftenposten.
We have already written about the increasing number of disability benefits and people receiving disability benefits in one of our recent texts: Young pensioners in Norway - why so much?
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