German medical review confirms 3,098 treatment errors and 97 deaths in 2025

Annual assessment findings

The Medizinischer Dienst, the expert medical service of Germany's statutory health insurance funds, presented its annual review of treatment errors in Berlin on 20 August 2026. Across 2025, medical reviewers investigated 11,735 suspected cases of medical malpractice that insured patients had reported to their health insurance funds. Formal assessments confirmed treatment errors that resulted in patient damage in 3,098 cases, compared to 3,700 confirmed errors in 2024. In 2,700 of those cases, the error was proven to have directly caused the health injury. In 97 instances, the treatment errors caused or contributed significantly to the death of the patient.

Distribution across medical disciplines

Two-thirds of the investigated malpractice allegations involved inpatient hospital care, while one-third occurred in outpatient medical practices. Across Germany, roughly 18 million hospital treatments and one billion outpatient doctor visits take place each year, with the Federal Statistical Office recording 17.5 million inpatient clinic stays in 2024 alone. Almost 30% of all patient complaints and 22.1% of confirmed errors were concentrated in orthopaedics and trauma surgery, followed by nursing care at 18.3% and internal medicine at 13.7%. Reviewers noted that higher complaint rates in surgical fields reflect greater visibility of unexpected physical outcomes to patients rather than lower safety standards.

Increase in severe never events

The report documented 150 severe, preventable incidents classified as never events in 2025, an increase from 134 such cases documented in 2024. These severe occurrences included retained surgical equipment or swabs left in patients after surgery, incorrect medication dosing instructions, and mix-ups involving patients or surgical body sites. Medical reviewers emphasized that official statistics capture only a small fraction of actual incidents across the healthcare system. Academic studies indicate that between 2% and 4% of inpatient hospital treatments involve preventable adverse events, representing an estimated 350,000 to 700,000 incidents annually in Germany. Stefan Gronemeyer, head of the Medizinischer Dienst Bund, demanded that the unrecorded cases receive proper regulatory scrutiny.

The dark figure is high and must no longer be downplayed.

Economic costs and reform proposals

The review linked patient safety directly to the financial efficiency of the healthcare system. Drawing on estimates from the OECD, the service stated that roughly 15% of hospital expenditure in developed countries is spent treating the consequences of preventable errors, corresponding to 16.7 billion euros within German statutory hospital spending. To reduce these incidents, the Medizinischer Dienst demanded the creation of a mandatory, pseudonymized, and sanction-free reporting system for never events, alongside a statutory obligation requiring clinics and doctors to inform patients immediately when errors happen. The reform proposals received backing from the AOK-Bundesverband, the Sozialverband Deutschland, and the Deutsche Stiftung Patientenschutz.

Every avoidable harm that we prevent means less suffering and at the same time avoids unnecessary follow-up costs.

Regional figures and federal response

Regional branches reported matching patterns, with MD Nord in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg evaluating 2,950 suspected cases and drafting 879 expert reports, confirming 215 instances of error and harm. In Lower Saxony, reviewers examined approximately 1,100 allegations, finding treatment errors in 24.2% of cases and establishing causal harm in 21.1%. Andreas Krokotsch, deputy head of MD Nord, noted that uncentralized tracking leaves the national overview incomplete and urged the adoption of anonymous reporting. The Federal Ministry of Health, led by Carsten Linnemann, stated on Thursday that structural improvements in patient safety remain necessary and confirmed that the ministry is evaluating options to improve systematic error recording.