– I am ready to fight, I have no plans to die, smiles Jannike Nilssen. She is wearing a prosthesis from the lower leg down after the doctors discovered her bone cancer too late. Now it is incurable. She can’t work, but she keeps her cancer stable with a newer type of medicine. In February, the state agency Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation (NPE) sent a letter. She was to receive full compensation, a so-called lump sum. Then comes a counter notification. – Now I will be paid in installments. That means far less money in total. It is because they have engaged a specialist of their own who has carried out a new assessment in which he believes that the forecast for my lifetime is less than two years. – Is there a doctor you have met? – No. A long road It was about four years ago. Jannike was pregnant. One leg swelled up more. Also later it was swollen. Was it a cool one? Jannike’s doctors should have discovered that it was cancer before it spread, Norwegian Patient Damage Compensation concluded. The case manager himself called Jannike in February and told her that she would receive a larger lump sum. The state says that the bone cancer should have been discovered earlier, but warns that the lump sum may not be paid out. Photo: William Jobling / news – In July, I also received a proposal drawn up on how the one-off payment will be, says Jannike Jannike and the lawyer subsequently provided more documentation in the case. Then, on its own initiative, NPE contacted a new expert specialist. By reading medical records, but without talking to Jannike or her doctor, he determined that the lifespan is less than two years. The new lifespan begins to run from the time the new doctor has made his assessment. – I am reacting to the fact that the doctor who knows the least about the situation should come to this conclusion, says Jannike. This is the practice of NPE. They follow a rule that patients only receive partial payment each term if their remaining lifespan is assumed to be less than two years. Will not say anything about longevity Jannike asked her own doctor, a senior doctor at the Radium Hospital, for a separate assessment. In the assessment, he writes, among other things: “We believe that an estimate of life expectancy is subject to considerable uncertainty and that it is difficult, if not impossible, to conclude (….) The doctor believes that the medicine helps and that Jannike “.. has had a long-term disease stabilization on pazopanib..” Jannike Nilssen (42) has incurable cancer, because the doctors discovered it too late. Nevertheless, she does not receive full compensation from Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation. Photo: William Jobling / news – What Jannike’s own doctor says is important for the case, says Jannike’s lawyer Eivind Rosseland Stokke at the law firm Ness Lundin. – Furthermore, we believe that the NPE specialist has used the statistics incorrectly. Jannike has already lived 20 months since the diagnosis, says Rosseland Stokke about Jannike’s prospects. He is also critical of the processing time. – The special thing here is that NPE had a specialist in February who said that the expected lifespan is over 2 years and that she was therefore entitled to a lump sum. Then we react to the fact that you, on your own initiative, engage a new specialist who now considers it differently. This takes a very long time and is an additional burden. The two years start running again when a new specialist has had his say. Jannike’s lawyer has filed a complaint. Always have to assess lifespan At NPE, acting director Anne-Mette Gulaker replies that they are required to assess lifespan. – Jannike would have reassessed any consequences of the incorrect treatment. Then we also wanted to collect new information. We have to follow the rules in the Damages Compensation Act, and when there is uncertainty in relation to life expectancy, we are required to step in and assess how a compensation should be paid, says Gulaker. Anne-Mette Gulaker is acting director at NPE Photo: William Jobling / news Jannike and the lawyer believe it was completely unproblematic to deliver new documentation. The lawyer also questions the fact that in many cases NPE operates with a two-year life limit. Questions in practice – This is a limit that has not been determined legally, but which NPE has set up and follows. There should be an exception if a lump sum is not paid and we question NPE’s practice, says Rosseland Stokke. – We are very confident in this assessment in principle, says acting director Gulaker. – A new assessment must be made if the expected lifespan is less than two years. It is quite common practice that we engage a new expert who reads the medical records without meeting the patient, she continues. Rossland Stokke thinks it is special that the NPE asked for a new assessment after the first one. In general, the two-year assessment is a problem that concerns many patients. – There are many who are assessed for less than two years without the NTP apparently having a basis for it. Unfortunately, this is not properly assessed in court since the patients are often ill and cannot endure a long journey in the legal system as well, he says. The family will live on. Jannike has a husband and a three-year-old girl. She knows that the cancer is incurable and the prognosis is initially not good. Should she die, the family will be left with a sixth of the original sum, according to the family and the lawyer. Jannike is married and has a three-year-old daughter Photo: William Jobling / news – There is a big difference in payment. Concretely, this means, among other things, that if I find an alternative treatment abroad, I cannot jump on it, says Jannike Nilssen Etterlatte can also apply for other compensation, but the sum is far less, the family believes. Not concluded NPE says the case is still not concluded. They have not asked for an assessment of life expectancy from Jannike’s own doctor, but have received it from her lawyer. – We have just received new information from Jannike and a lawyer, so we will look into this, the case is pending, says Gulaker Jannike still hopes the case can be turned around: – You think that the State is the nice one here, but it is a bit like that … heartbroken, says Jannike Nilssen
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Cancer patient receives less compensation because NTP believes she lives shorter – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
