Dogs have to stay outside, it is said in practices and hospitals. A blind woman complained against this, feeling helpless without her guide dog. The court ruled in her favor.
Karlsruhe (dpa) - For medical reasons, a doctor's office must not forbid a blind woman from walking through the waiting room with her guide dog. Such a ban discriminates against women because of their disability, the Federal Constitutional Court decided.
The judges upheld a constitutional complaint from the Berlin woman, as the court announced (Az. 2 BvR 1005/18). The woman was treated by a physiotherapist in 2014. The practice could either be reached through the courtyard via an open steel lattice staircase. Or the patients walked through the waiting room of an orthopedic practice in the same building. The woman had crossed the practice several times with her dog - until the doctors forbade her and directed her to walk across the courtyard. According to her description, this route is out of the question for the woman: the animal is afraid of the stairs because it has already got caught and injured with its claws in the grille.
Berlin courts had dismissed the woman's lawsuit - wrongly, the constitutional judges now decided. The ban on taking dogs into practice is apparently formulated in neutral terms. In fact, it particularly disadvantaged the blind woman.
Without her dog, the woman had to confide in strangers, touch and be guided. This is tantamount to patronizing. The ban on disadvantage should enable people with disabilities to lead a self-determined and independent life as much as possible, according to the judges. Neither the Robert Koch Institute nor the German Hospital Society had hygienic concerns for guide dogs in practices and hospitals.
Decision of January 30th
Non-discrimination, Art. 3 Para. 3 GG