Operation canceled

First guest patient from Lower Austria now suing Vienna

A postponed operation for a Lower Austrian in a Viennese hospital will now be a case for the Viennese civil court.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal, stock.adobe.com)

A patient suddenly has to wait a year and a half for his operation instead of six months – and is now suing the hospital in Vienna. The Lower Austrian man is receiving support from Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who has been engaged in a war of words with Vienna's City Councilor for Health on the issue of "guest patients" for some time.

On February 3, the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters received a written submission that had already attracted nationwide interest in advance – the lawsuit supported by the province of Lower Austria and brought against a Viennese hospital in the ongoing dispute over the care of guest patients.

This case is symptomatic of a dispute over money, but above all over political and social principles. As reported on several occasions, the conflict was triggered by statements made by Vienna's SPÖ Health Councilor Peter Hacker, who wants to make medical care available to supposed "surgery tourists" from the Vienna area.

This situation has angered everyone in the surrounding area, not least because specific financial conditions were negotiated in the fiscal equalization agreement to compensate the Vienna city government for this – and, according to legal opinions, these conditions are considered watertight. This is regardless of the fact that Vienna complains that it is left with a bill of more than 600 million euros per year despite the compensation.

Lower Austria's governor Mikl-Leitner and Vienna's health councilor Hacker are arguing about the costs incurred by "guest patients."(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal, NLK/Khittl, Mario Urbantschitsch)

At least €15,000 in damages claimed
In this specific case, the sum involved is comparatively small – but still significant. The plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of €15,000 on the grounds that he was disadvantaged. The patient in question would have had to wait up to six months for his surgery anyway, but in April 2025, the plaintiff received a letter from the hospital stating that it was obliged to "ensure the care of the Viennese population first and foremost" and therefore had to "reduce the number of patients from other provinces for elective surgeries." The hospital regretted that the plaintiff was "confronted with a significantly longer waiting time as a result."

Surgery appointment one and a half years later – in Lower Austria
The Lower Austrian then had to take steps to get an appointment for surgery elsewhere. The plaintiff is now scheduled to undergo surgery on February 24, 2026 – more than a year and a half later than originally planned – at the University Hospital in Tulln, Lower Austria. A long period of suffering that could have legal consequences: as is clear from the lawsuit, which is available to the "Krone," according to the plaintiff, with reference to the Federal Law on Hospitals and Health Resorts, reordering based on place of residence is not provided for – and is therefore, at least according to some lawyers, clearly illegal. Incidentally, the current financial equalization system is valid until 2028 – then a new one will be negotiated and/or the system will be financed from a single source, depending on the success of the intended reform.

Mikl-Leitner: "We will not tolerate this."
For Lower Austria's powerful governor, one thing is certain: "We should return to a common path throughout Austria. It cannot be that foreign citizens with a Vienna registration form, who may never have paid into the system, are treated in Vienna hospitals and Lower Austrians are not, just because they are Lower Austrians. The guest patient regulation, which was only signed in 2023, continues to work without complaint with all other federal states. The registration form is not asked for, only how the patient can be helped. Unfortunately, Vienna has abandoned this common path, which has been good and right for decades. At the expense of our compatriots in Lower Austria. And we will not tolerate that."

Political discussions will, of course, continue so that we can find our way back to the common path.