How to begin a Lawsuit in Finland

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 3:06 am

To start off I am not the usual American looking for money from a lawsuit. Just to get that out of the way. This is an extremely upsetting issue for both my wife and I. I really dont want to get into a ton of details as they make my blood boil but we need advice on this one as to how the legal system works here regarding this. Any help would really be appreciated. It gets me beyond upset to even write this here. While my wife was in the hospital giving birth to our first child 4 weeks ago at the Hospital in Hyvinkää, they did something very wrong. I spoke with my own private doctor (he is Finnish) here and he said that this is "Not the Soviet Union, the hospital is at fault, and they would 100% lose in court". How do we begin proceedings here. Do we see a lawyer first?? How should we choose a lawyer? Do lawyers offer free initial consults here?? Do we file anything before we see a lawyer?? I have absolutely no idea what to do so any and all advice wiould again be very much appreciated.
My wife is suffering, obviously hurting the little guy, and driving me crazy as well. This is so far beyond money that it is not even about that. This is about having the hospital publicly found guilty, giving us a tiny bit of closure, so that we can begin the healing process. Thanks everyone

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interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:03 am

I am sorry to hear your story, it sounds awful even without any details.
I cannot help you much, but this link:
http://www.asianajajat.fi/asp/empty.asp ... =0&C=24250

has a list of lawyers in Finland, searchable by language skills (so you know you get one who is good in English, etc), and by specialities (so you can get someone who really knows this kind of thing). Maybe a first step would be to book an hour with someone who fits your criteria, and get a first assessment of what a lawyer can do for you and how the process would work. I am sure it would be worth it, even if you have to pay for the visit yourself. If you win the lawsuit, I guess maybe you could get that money back.
p.s. one of the specialities you can choose is "patient injury" so I guess this is not the first time someone needs a lawyer to for this kind of thing

Good luck.
/interleukin

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:39 pm

Yes well the first thing is to ask "what do you want". For patient injury one makes an insurance claim against the hospital. But they don't really compensate just for anything - check the "Types of compensation payable" - one need to have a proven injury due to the treatment. So they don't compensate for "bad feelings" as this is not the USA where you get millions if the doctor farts beside your bed. So for filing the insurance claims you'd need to have the paperwork proving the injury and then a person who knows what to file.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:45 pm

What about the Ombudsman? Aren't they supposed to offer help in Public Sector complaints and other issues?

odon · Post by **odon** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:50 pm

Sorry to hear about this,

First you should contact the "potilas asiamies" a person who is incharge of grievences in the hospital where u got treated and this person have a form and all that you fill and give your complain, then the hospital have to respond to it.....that is the ylilääkäri and if this does not satisfy you then you should take it to the lawyers and to the länihallitus, where they have a complain desk, and they have an independant body who will look into the conduct of the hospital.........that is the official way the finnish patients will go about it......if all this does not bring redress,,,,,,,,,then the lawyer and the courts,,,,,,,,

hope i was of help!

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:50 pm

Ah yes of course, the "patient Ombudsman" the Potilasasiamies.... heres the Järvenpää potilasasiamies contact details page. And that is "county service for taxpayers" so thats your right to use for free this service

So in a sense this is the Soviet Union, and to the original question - no, the question is how not to begin a lawsuit in Finland, its the last thing on the list to do.

odon · Post by **odon** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:57 pm

Hank W. wrote:Ah yes of course, the Potilasasiamies.... heres the Järvenpää potilasasiamies contact details page.

They made me read a small red book, in finnish.......called "sosiaalilääketiede ja suomen laki"

but i think he is talking of the hyvinkaa main hospital, here is the asiamies link

http://www.hus.fi/default.asp?path=1,32 ... ,4547,5268

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:48 am

Oh man I just typed out the whole story for everyone to read but I was timed out and my message was lost here. I am just exhausted to write it out again at this moment. I just wanted to thank eveyone for their wonderful links, description on how the system works, great diagrams, and wonderful contact info. This site and you guys are the best. Thank you for caring. I will tell the story again here. It was nice to vent even though my story got lost here. Let me go tend to my wife now as she just got back from the Psychiatrist with meds to help her deal with this. Thank you.

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