A Hamburg start-up has been offering sick leave via the WhatsApp messenger service for a year. The processing is carried out by “Dr. “Ansay AU-Schein GmbH”.
Here, a sick note for the respective employer is created online by the user and confirmed via WhatsApp. Users fill out a questionnaire online with their symptoms. After paying 14 euros, the sick note will be sent as a PDF file with the AU certificate (certificate of incapacity for work) via WhatsApp.
This type of sick note can only be used for “mild” symptoms such as colds, bladder infections, or stomach flu. The advantage for users would be that they would not have to drag themselves to a doctor's office if they were sick.
Sample process is initiated
This model could soon be a thing of the past. The German Center for Combating Unfair Competition would like to file a lawsuit against the Hamburg start-up. A lawsuit is said to have already been filed, as reported by heise online.
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The reasons for this are that, in the opinion of the competition center, the start-up would violate the Medicines Advertising Act.
According to many lawyers, the AU certificates ordered are not valid under labor law, so the advertising on the website is nothing less than misleading. Christiane Köber, member of the management board of the Competition Center, comments: “It would be important for employers to know whether such a certificate of incapacity for work has the necessary evidentiary value.”
Concerns from medical associations about data protection
The medical associations of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein also expressed concerns about data protection at au-schein.de at the beginning of the year: “In the opinion of the medical profession, a responsible and careful transfer of the confidential doctor-patient relationship into the digital age looks different .” In addition, users were warned that sick notes via WhatsApp could not be accepted by the employer.
The operator of au-schein.de Dr. jur. Can Ansay does not understand these concerns: “We issue legally valid certificates with the original signature of a doctor,” he told Spiegel Online. These certificates would not differ from those that users would receive from their actual doctor. The advantage for users would be that they would not have to drag themselves to a doctor's office if they were sick.
Over 20,000 sick notes have already been issued
The service started at the end of 2018. Since then, over 20,000 sick notes have been issued using it, the start-up announces on its website.
This is what the competition center says in a press release dated November 18, 2019
“Order” a sick note online? – Competition center initiates test case against providers of certificates of incapacity for work
Advertising for distance treatment
LG Munich is already banning ottonova advertising due to remote treatment
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