Guest patients

Controversy over gag order in Vienna clinic

An internal service instruction is causing a huge stir in Vienna.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Karl Schöndorfer TOPPRESS zVg)

There is great excitement surrounding a service instruction including a gag order at the Ottakring Clinic: the internal memo is fueling the guest patient dispute—and it also concerns special treatment for employees. The "Krone" has the service instruction.

For months, there has been a political dispute over the non-treatment of patients who do not have their primary residence in the city of Vienna. The battle is particularly fierce between Lower Austria and Vienna City Hall. This has led to the first lawsuit against this regulation, with support from St. Pölten.

Now, an internal service instruction at the Ottakring Clinic by Chief Physician Dr. Franz Kralinger and Medical Director Dr. Peter Gläser (available to the "Krone") is adding fuel to the fire. According to this instruction, doctors at the Penzing site, which is essentially the orthopedic branch, are ordered to do the following: Effective immediately, no more guest patients are to be added to the waiting list. In addition, doctors are being muzzled by the media – negative comments would constitute a breach of duty, as would failure to comply with this regulation.

The "internal" service instruction under discussion(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

Wigev employees are exempt, however(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

Doctors face consequences if they do not sign
The order must be signed by the end of this week. But that's not all: the protocol also states that, in addition to emergencies and post-operative treatment, there is another exception – employees of the Vienna Health Association (WIGEV) receive special treatment regardless of their place of residence. All other city employees in the municipal administration, waste collection, emergency services, fire department, etc. who do not have a Vienna postal code are then out of luck if they have knee or hip problems. So is there a two-tier medical system for guest patients in the Vienna Health Association?

An internal service instruction is causing a stir in Vienna.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Karl Schöndorfer TOPPRESS zVg)

"Krone" asked Wigev about it
Now comes the surprising twist. In response to an inquiry from "Krone," Wigev now states: "There is no official directive in force throughout the entire health association that regulates the treatment of patients without a Viennese residence. Nor has the general management ever given any instruction to create such a rule."

Interesting explanation
The interesting explanation: the text that is currently causing concern was merely an internal draft that was never adopted and therefore never came into force. In other words, it was an administrative instruction for internal discussion. And it referred exclusively to the orthopedics department at the Penzing site of the Ottakring Clinic and was written internally.

All just an internal draft for discussion
The accusation that doctors were being "gagged" is also put into perspective. As in many large organizations, media contacts are centrally recorded and monitored. If this is company policy anyway, why is there a passage with disciplinary consequences in it at all? What remains is a draft that was never supposed to officially exist—and yet is causing massive political controversy.