If a patient does not show up for treatment at the dental practice despite an agreed appointment, this is not only a nuisance due to the preparation and scheduling of the staff - it can ultimately also mean a financial loss for the practice if the appointment could not be made elsewhere. In this article, we therefore want to address the question of whether the practice can claim compensation from the patient in this case.
What is the legal situation if a patient does not show up?
What happens if a patient does not show up for the agreed appointment is not clearly regulated by law. However, many courts have already addressed this issue, so that there is at least one clear trend in their assessment. As a rule, a claim for cancellation fees was affirmed in the affirmative and in some cases subject to further conditions.
The claim was based primarily on Section 615 of the German Civil Code, also most recently by a decision of the Federal Court of Justice. According to this, there is a claim for reimbursement because the doctor has offered the patient the contractually owed service in the form of the treatment appointment, but the patient has not accepted it as contractually owed due to his failure to attend, so-called “default of acceptance”.
Based on this, case law generally set the following requirements for affirming the default fee:
- The practice was unable to use the cancelled appointment elsewhere at short notice.
- The patient must have been aware that there would be a cancellation fee in the event of a no-show.
What happens if the appointment can be rescheduled?
If the practice was able to use the appointment profitably for other purposes, in particular by treating another patient, it is not entitled to a cancellation fee. However, this will not be possible in most practices on a regular basis due to long-term deadlines.
Does the patient have to know about the impending cancellation fee?
In some cases, it was argued in case law that the patient was at least aware of the impending cancellation fee - in particular because he was clearly informed of this when making an appointment. In other cases, it was even argued that the patient should have clearly agreed to this. In these cases, it is again unclear how such consent should be given. In any case, the requirement for handwritten consent would ignore the day-to-day practice of telephone or digital appointments.
How high can the cancellation fee be?
Unfortunately, there is also no clear clarity regarding the amount of the cancellation fee.
In some cases, courts have set seemingly arbitrary lump sums, in some cases based on average values of treatment costs. In other cases, the fees for the planned treatment were set. However, the practice will have to take into account saved costs, for example in the form of unused material.
Conclusion: How should practices deal with the cancellation fee?
Even though the cancellation fee is not clearly regulated by law, the case law of recent years has shown a clear tendency towards the recognition of a claim for a cancellation fee by the patient
However, it must also be stated that the case law is not uniform, in particular with regard to the question of the extent to which the patient was informed about the impending cancellation fee or should even have agreed to it expressly - and if so in what way.
For example, there are also further requirements or comments in various judgments, for example, a cancellation fee should be waived if an alternative appointment has been made with the patient, which is at least surprising in view of the damage caused by the missed appointment.
Recommendation: What should practices do if patients do not show up?
Unfortunately, a clear recommendation cannot be made against the background of the still unclear legal situation, as it cannot be ruled out that individual courts will judge the respective specific case differently or impose different requirements.
If the practice wishes to keep the option of claiming a cancellation fee open, it should act as legally as possible, particularly in the area of informing the patient and agreeing to the cancellation fee. Since handwritten consent is difficult to implement in everyday practice, at least one note with a possibility of consent from the patient should be clearly integrated - for example in the digital registration process.
Please note that this guide was created for informational purposes only, has no legally binding effect and does not involve any legal advice. The ultimate responsibility remains the personal responsibility of practices and doctors.
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