Company boss in despair

“Waiting for surgery is driving me to financial ruin”

A 47-year-old man has to wait around two months for his surgery appointment - a financial drama for the self-employed man (symbolic image).(Bild: Karin Nussbaumer)

A self-employed man (47) fears for his professional future because he has to wait two months for an operation following a hernia and is facing a total of four months off work. "Then I can close down!" complains the Lower Austrian.

Michael König works as a tree climber at lofty heights. But now he is threatened with financial ruin. The 47-year-old from Götzendorf in the district of Bruck an der Leitha suffered a hernia almost two weeks ago, as it later turned out. "At first it just pulled funny, but the next day I was in hellish pain," he explains.

"Always paid in well"
After a trip from Mödling hospital to his GP and then to the hospital in Hainburg, the self-employed man received the shock news: The operation would not take place until mid-April, after which he would not be allowed to lift anything for two months. "That's extremely hard for a one-man business. If I'm not allowed to do anything for almost four months, I can close down," explains König, who has been running his company for 16 years. "I was never ill during this time and always paid into the social security system," he says, annoyed. He then called around on his own initiative and at least got an appointment at the hospital in Horn a month earlier.

"Not an acute emergency"
However, the State Health Agency (LGA) does not speak of an unusually long waiting time. "This is the most common form of hernia and not an emergency," it says. Pain therapy was therefore initiated and the next possible surgery date was offered in Hainburg. "The findings and the cause of the pain were discussed in detail with the patient," said an LGA spokesperson.