Sick leave frees you from work.
But how do you get them if there are actually no health problems to complain about.
A family doctor reveals it.
Some questions you hardly dare to ask - not even to your partner, and not even to a doctor or lawyer.
The topic is unpleasant, the insight into personal circumstances could become embarrassing and deep, and there may even be legal consequences.
The question today: My friend wasn't really ill, but took sick leave - what did he have to tell the doctor to achieve that?
Sick leave: Patients must be able to judge for themselves whether they can work
Answer: In the best case, the truth.
Basically, there are many clinical pictures that doctors find difficult to assess with regard to an inability to work
.
"You can't measure dizziness, and neither can abdominal pain," says Hans Michael Mühlenfeld, general practitioner from Bremen and chairman of the Bremen Association of General Practitioners.
He also relies on the reason and judgment of his patients.
"In my view, everyone knows best whether they need sick leave."
Doctors are often unable to judge this objectively because it also depends heavily on the patient's profession
.
Concentrated office work, for example, is very difficult or almost impossible with severe headaches.
"I take it seriously when someone honestly tells me, 'I'm sick, please write me off sick.'"
Video: Sick letter via WhatsApp - is that actually allowed?
It's understandable
:
For this reason, more and more colleagues are taking sick leave
.
These reasons for sick leave are not legal
But Mühlenfeld doesn't like to be fooled - even if it happens every now and then without him noticing.
Namely, if someone fakes an illness and he writes the patient off as a result.
But Mühlenfeld looks at it soberly: "If someone lies to themselves, it's not my fault."
But there were also patients who did not get any further with honesty.
For example, if they do not need sick leave for health reasons.
Mühlenfeld has already heard some creative justifications.
One of the classics:
Patients who have planned their vacation wrong and want to secure a few vacation days by taking sick leave
.
With that, however, they are brushed off at Mühlenfeld.
Such sick leave is
not legal
under the Disability Policy .
"Of course I abide by the law," he says.
Sick with the flu: the medical society strongly advises vaccination – older people in particular should take the warning seriously.
survey on the topic
Also read
: How to properly call in sick.
Also interesting
: sports, partying or shopping - you can do all of that despite being on sick leave.
dpa
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Surprising: These five professions make you ill
