Health law

Disciplinary law, right of complaint, and disputes

A disciplinary complaint is always a shock. Our lawyers provide assistance and advice. Together, we analyse whether there is an error in legal terms, and how to navigate the disciplinary proceedings effectively. In case of complaints and other disputes with patients, we help you deal with them and if possible find a resolution with the patient. Our lawyers are well-known at the Regional Disciplinary Tribunals, the Central Disciplinary Tribunal, the Dispute Committees, and the Health Law Arbitral Tribunal.

Incidents and emergencies

Mistakes happen where work is done. Our lawyers help you correctly analyse and resolve incidents and emergencies. ScheerSanders Advocaten supports you in determining if a situation is an incident or emergency, and whether reporting to the Inspectorate is required. If needed, we assist with reporting an emergency and subsequently drafting an emergency report. Under our guidance, we involve the relevant patient and/or representative or next of kin.

Collaboration in healthcare

The future of healthcare unequivocally requires more collaboration. But how? How do you agree on that, put it in writing, what is involved, how is it financed, and… what does the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets think? Our lawyers have extensive experience in assisting collaborations, drafting collaboration agreements, and legally shaping the future of your collaboration.

Drafting treatment agreements

Most treatment agreements are made verbally. Both the Dutch Medical Treatment Contracts Act (WGBO) and the civil-law ‘contract for services’ automatically come into play. However, there can be many reasons for a written version: from informed consent to collection risks in case of uninsured care. Our lawyers draft concise, easily readable, and practical agreements: no one in healthcare wants a pile of paperwork.

Youth care / social domain tenders

Health law and procurement law are entirely different fields of law, but often needed together. ScheerSanders’ lawyers specialise in both legal practice areas and assist several (youth) care parties in their tenders in (youth) care and/or under the Dutch Social Support Act. From the tendering process (including asking effective questions), complaints, or preliminary relief proceedings if a tender is lost, to effectively structuring collaboration after winning a tender; our lawyers can handle the entire spectrum.

Patients’ rights

In healthcare, patients have many rights that affect the operations of healthcare enterprises in various ways. Examples are rights related to access to medical records and the ability or inability to terminate a treatment agreement. These rights concern privacy, information rights, and representation. Our lawyers are familiar with the various sources of these rights (the Dutch Medical Treatment Contracts Act, the Dutch Healthcare Quality, Complaints and Disputes Act, etc.), and based on experience and case law they also understand the many (significant) limits and nuances.

Supervision (IGJ/NZa/ACM)

The healthcare sector is rightly subject to much supervision. Both by the IGJ ( Health and Youth Care Inspectorate), NZa (Dutch Healthcare Authority), and ACM (Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets). Our specialists have decades of experience dealing with various actions by supervisory authorities and in addition to providing legal advice, they can also provide tactical and practical advice.

Governance in healthcare

There are often dilemmas in healthcare that affect administrative considerations. Our lawyers are familiar not only with governance regulations (including the Dutch Healthcare Governance Code 2022 and the Dutch Healthcare and Care Providers (Accreditation) Act), but also understand the rules of the game relating to important stakeholders like no other. We point out opportunities to make governance practical, workable, and sustainable to truly benefit healthcare.

Specialisation in pharmacy

Our lawyers have been assisting pharmacies and pharmacists since ScheerSanders Advocaten’s incorporation. This makes for easy communication: we understand the dynamics within a pharmacy and know the complexities involved. Our lawyers closely follow disciplinary law for pharmacists and regularly provide training sessions in this field. Because of her expertise, our pharmacy-specialised colleague Anne Vokurka-Viruly serves as the secretary of the Disciplinary Board and Appeals Board of the Royal Dutch Society for the Advancement of Pharmacy (KNMP).

Specialisation in youth care

Not all health lawyers are also proficient in the specialised Dutch Youth Act. Given our expertise in this distinct field, we assist numerous youth care providers, both small and large. We are familiar with the often-required transformations in healthcare provision and various fields of work in outpatient and (highly) specialised youth care. As the in-house counsel for youth care providers, we draft various types of contracts and are a discussion partner in negotiations with municipalities.

Specialisation in cosmetic care

Cosmetic care and elective care present many legal intricacies. The threshold for informed consent is higher, and patient expectations are sometimes challenging to manage. Our lawyers assist several cosmetic clinics. We help create a practical treatment agreement and advise on the necessary contents of your medical record. We regularly perform a ‘legal audit’ for cosmetic clinics to check whether your clinic is legally up-to-date. The advice resulting from these audits is practical and can often be implemented within a day. Together, we prevent disciplinary complaints and other troubles!

Privacy in healthcare

The specialists at ScheerSanders Advocaten provide almost daily advice on privacy in healthcare. We approach issues from both the perspective of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Medical Treatment Contracts Act (WGBO)/medical confidentiality. Our advice covers topics such as (access to) medical records, drafting agreements with medical content, and compliance with the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) Guideline ‘Handling Medical Data’.

Employment law in healthcare

Our employment lawyers also specialise in healthcare. Examples include the duty to verify, non-disclosure obligations, duty of personnel to report to the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ), and the implications of disciplinary law on employment relationships.

For more information, please contact Anne Vokurka-Viruly or complete our contact form, so that we can contact you as soon as possible.