Application for benefit from patient insurance - incidents in 2025 and later

The right to compensation may be formed if one of the following applies:

• Applicants suffered physical or mental damage during treatment or examination

• The applicant's spouse died as a result of injury during treatment or examination

• The parent of the applicant under the age of 18 died as a result of injury during treatment or examination

• Parents, or, where applicable, guardians, due to miscarriage after 18 weeks of pregnancy, stillbirth after 22 weeks of pregnancy or due to the death of a child under 18 years of age, if damage occurred during treatment or study

The damage must have occurred on one of the following:

• Healthcare centre or hospital in Iceland

• Other State-owned healthcare institutions, in whole or in part

• Other healthcare services in Iceland

• In domestic ambulance services

• Healthcare services or ambulance services abroad, as long as you are attending necessary treatments that are not available in Iceland by the Icelandic Health Insurance.

The damage must also be attributable to one of the following:

• Treatment was not as well managed as possible based on knowledge and experience

• A failure or defect occurred in the equipment, instruments or other equipment that was used

• Treatment complication, as long as:

  - It is relatively rare (less than 1-2% of cases)

  - Is severe compared to the primary disease that was to be treated

  - The damage is more than reasonable for the patient to bear without compensation

• Accidents resulting from treatment or study

• Medical experiment that was not for diagnosis or treatment

• Donation of organs, tissues, blood or other body fluids by the applicant

• Vaccination with a vaccine proposed by health authorities, due to damage caused by the characteristics of the vaccine or mishandling of the vaccine, as long as:

  • Treatment was not as well managed as possible based on knowledge and experience

  • The complication is rare and serious

• The use of a medicine that is not according to the approved indications or due to the use of a medicine that has not been authorized for marketing, if the health authorities request or require use to prevent damage caused by external factors.

After all of the above conditions are met, the right to compensation is determined. If the amount of compensation is found to be higher than the minimum payment of compensation, the application is accepted.