Because of rescue operation

City of Vienna has to pay air-conditioning company 1100 euros

An activist was slightly injured when she was detached from the road.(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Disinfectant and a plaster - that will now cost the City of Vienna dearly. The Administrative Court has ruled that an activist of the former "Last Generation" does not have to bear the costs of a rescue operation herself. Despite the lack of social insurance. 

On October 24, 2022, young activists once again stuck to the Praterstern in Vienna. It was a familiar - almost everyday - situation for the police, who also alerted the ambulance service that day. One of the climate stickers had "only suffered minor injuries to three fingers, which were disinfected and then closed with a plaster", according to the Administrative Court in its decision.

Air conditioning adhesive was not insured
The young woman was later charged for the operation. "Due to the lack of social insurance and therefore the assumption of costs by the social insurance provider, she was charged a fee of 709 euros for the rescue operation by decision of the Vienna City Council," summarized the Administrative Court.

Constitutional Court asks city to pay
The climate sticker appealed against this. This first went to the Federal Fiscal Court. "This determined that the employee of the rescue coordination center who received the request could have assumed that the deployment was medically necessary." However, the next instance - the Administrative Court - has now determined that none of the tasks of the rescue service specified in the Vienna Rescue and Patient Transport Act (WRKG) were present in the case in question.

§ Section 1 WRKG Rescue service

The tasks of a rescue service are

1. To provide first aid to persons who have suffered a serious health disorder or serious injury, to make them fit for transportation and, if necessary, to transport them to a hospital or medical assistance using suitable means of transport under appropriate care;
2. to provide immediate first emergency medical assistance to persons in imminent danger of death that cannot otherwise be guaranteed;
3. carry out the transportation of persons whose vital functions must be constantly monitored or maintained;
4. carry out acute transportation of blood, blood products or organs;

The intervention of the paramedics would therefore not have been mandatory, which is why the activist is obliged to pay according to the WRKG despite having received medical treatment for her minor injuries. The City of Vienna must therefore reimburse the climate activist for the costs of the legal action - 1106.40 euros. More than they demanded from the young woman ...