"Kassensturz" contributions violate personality
In the "Kassensturz" program about an IV clarification office, statements were made that were contrary to the facts and violated personal rights.
The Federal Supreme Court has thus rejected an appeal by "Kassensturz". The subject of a total of three programs broadcast in 2006 were expert opinions from the Medical Assessment Institute (ABI), which serve as a basis for the assessment of benefits by private and social insurance companies. The institute is one of the medical assessment centers (Medas) of the disability insurance.
Kassensturz" had initially accused the head of the ABI of having increased the degree of the insured person's ability to work in the final report without consulting the specialists - to the detriment of the insured person.
According to "Kassensturz", the insurance companies mainly send those affected to appraisal offices that make insurance-friendly decisions. Quality is not an issue, and there is no quality control - neither from the appraisal offices nor from the appraisals. There is no independent review.
And finally, the "Kassensturz" reported in its series of articles that the Institute had changed expert reports on patients "in series".
In the ruling published on Wednesday, the Federal Supreme Court concludes that the last two statements do not correspond to the facts. Only three cases had been documented in which the expert reports had been amended. The expression "in series" gives the impression that there are a large number of cases. This shows the Institute in a false light.
Personality violated
It is also wrong that the expert opinions are not reviewed. This takes place in court proceedings. However, the statement made in the TV report gives the viewer the impression that the institute can and does act as it sees fit.
In these two cases, Swiss Television had therefore violated the personality of the Institute and its director. As already decided by the Basel Court of Appeal as the lower court, one of the contributions must be deleted from the Swiss Television website. The report must also be deleted from the cache of the internet search engines Google and Yahoo. (SDA)
