The Federal Court ruled in the case of a psychologist who worked in an Aargau clinic in 2021 and became infected with Covid-19. The accident insurance company had refused to cover the costs at the time: there was insufficient evidence that the woman had become infected at work, they said. The first instance – the Aargau Insurance Court – took the same view.
The case now went to the Federal Court, which also rejected the hospital psychologist’s complaint.
The argument: Accident insurance for occupational diseases is only responsible if the illness is “a risk typical of the profession”: “This is not the case with a psychologist working in a hospital who contracted a Covid-19 infection in 2021,” according to the statement from Lausanne.
The case would have been different if the woman had worked in nursing – working in a hospital would have entailed a specific risk of infection.
The basis is a list drawn up by the Federal Council: it shows particular risks in various professions. And according to this list, infectious diseases among hospital staff are indeed occupational diseases. “From an evidential point of view, this gives rise to a natural presumption,” as the legal language puts it.
The lunch break risk
Or to put it another way: Anyone who works in healthcare and becomes infected with certain diseases is very likely to have contracted the infection at work.
But the situation is different for a hospital psychologist: Infectious diseases are not on the relevant list. And it cannot be assumed that a corona infection is typical of the profession.
“The clinic in question also cared for patients with acute Covid-19. However, the psychologist was not involved in their care and was therefore not exposed to any specific risk of infection due to a workplace that was hazardous to health,” the statement said. “This is not changed by the fact that she came into contact with nursing staff and doctors, who in turn had contact with Covid-19 patients, without any protective measures, especially during her lunch break, or that Covid-19 patients were initially quarantined in rooms on the psychologist’s ward.”
