If I suffer negligent treatment at a private clinic, do I claim against the doctor, the clinic or their insurance?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

You can claim against all of them at once. The doctor and the private clinic are obliged to have liability insurance or another equivalent guarantee and, if it is insurance, you can claim directly against the insurer. If you were treated by a doctor on your private medical insurer's list of doctors, the courts usually accept that the insurance company is also liable. What is decisive is proving, with a medical expert's report, that the treatment did not meet the standards of good practice or that you were not informed of the risks. Whom to claim against The doctor who treated you and their insurer. The clinic and its insurer, for failings by its staff and in its organisation, such as a hospital-acquired infection or a lack of resources. The private medical insurance company, if you were treated by a doctor on its list of doctors, especially where it offered you that list of doctors as an incentive to take out the policy. What has to be proved That there was an error, because the treatment departed from what good medical practice requires, or that the risks were not explained to you before your consent was sought. A bad outcome is not enough on its own, because the doctor undertakes to use the proper means, not to achieve a cure. That this error caused the harm you suffered. To prove it, ask for a copy of your medical records, to which you are entitled. In Catalonia the essential documents are kept for at least fifteen years. If they will not give it to you, the judge can order it to be handed over before proceedings are brought. Once you have it, commission the expert report. Time limits The time limits vary depending on whom you claim against and whether there was a contract. To be on the safe side, work on the basis of the shortest one that may apply, which in Catalonia is three years, normally from your discharge from medical treatment or from when the after-effects stabilise, although the prudent course is to make a written claim within the first year. Outside Catalonia it is one year. Against the clinic with which you had a contract there may be a longer time limit, but it is best not to cut it fine. If you were treated at the expense of the public health system, in a public hospital or in a private hospital under contract with it, the route is different, namely a “reclamación de responsabilidad patrimonial”, a claim for compensation against the public authorities, which has a time limit of one year from recovery or from when the after-effects stabilise. Before suing the clinic or the insurers, you must try to negotiate, as the law has required since 2025.