The news portal tv3.lt inquired why the state left a citizen in an accident to fend for himself and what is the procedure for compensating health care services for soldiers.
He felt bad while preparing for the standards
in 2023 May 4 in the evening, Erik and his wife Vaiva were preparing dinner at home. Erikas, who served in the Lithuanian army, went to another room to exercise, because he had to meet standards in June. Suddenly the man felt bad.
“He went into another room, did some push-ups or something, came out and said, ‘Something’s wrong with me, I’m dragging my leg and I can’t see out of one eye.’ He went out to the balcony, took a breath, went, washed his face and I told him to go lie down.
I came a few minutes later, because I was still answering the patients’ messages, I asked him how he was feeling and I realized that he had a speech impediment. I asked him again: “How do you feel?”, he repeated to me, those were uncensored words, but I understood that he could not say anything more,” said his wife Vaiva.
Vaiva is a doctor, so she quickly realized that these could be the first signs of a stroke. She immediately called an ambulance, so Erikas Norkus got to the medical facility quickly. Erik was taken to Kaunas clinics, where doctors were already ready for his admission.
“We were very lucky, they said that one of the best radiologists is on duty at the clinics, and I asked if I could go home, they said: “Yes, you can go home, we will be here for a good half hour.
When I was getting ready to go home, Erik had already recovered and told me who I should call, because he was finishing his course and had to collect his diplomas. I called everyone, told them what I had, and they took him to the operating room and told me to call them in a couple of hours,” Vaiva recalled.
He spent two weeks in a coma
After the operation, Erik fell into a coma. The man spent two weeks in a coma, and celebrated his 47th birthday in the intensive care unit.
When he woke up from the coma, the situation was complicated: Erik contracted a staphylococcus aureus infection, pneumonia started, and later he was transferred to the neurological department, where he already started to react to the environment.
Then followed a path through numerous medical institutions: from the clinics, he was transferred to the LSMU Kaunas Hospital, then to the Aleksot Nursing Hospital, where he spent two weeks. With the help of the army, Erikas was urgently transported to the Palanga rehabilitation center, where he stayed until September 15.
At that time, Erika’s condition improved slightly, but her perception of the environment, text and memory are still poor, and her speech is limited. The former soldier cannot read or write until today.
“Then they put the skull back on him and then the surgeons said to me, ‘It should start to get better a little bit.’ He spent the entire post-operative period in clinics, then we transferred him to the Romanai Nursing Hospital.
He stayed here for a long time, and about a month ago I transferred him to a foster home, because in order to get rehabilitation again, there is such a procedure that you don’t get a referral when you are in a hospital,” said Vaiva.
To get help faced difficulties
According to Vaiva, since May 4 last year, Erik had only returned home on Easter.
“I took him from Friday to Monday. Colleagues from the army came, helped to sit down and carry, because the apartment is not suitable, it is on the second floor, you have to carry it up the stairs – everything was helped by Erik’s co-workers”, she added.
All this time, it was not only necessary to take care of the husband – the wife bought all the necessary equipment, collected every check, filled out applications to receive a one-time payment. According to her knowledge, she should have reached about four thousand euros, although she does not know exactly, but the situation resembled a curiosity.
“It was a strange moment, because the bedsores started, I had to act fast and buy a mattress for bedsores, I had to buy helmets to protect my head because, after all, there was no bone, the brain was exposed. The state provides all the opportunities to purchase the necessary tools cheaper, when the entire package has already been formed, the needs have been formed, but it was necessary to buy, not to wait, because bedsores do not wait for you to get everything. You do everything with your own money, but they told me: “Whatever you buy, collect checks all summer and then we will submit a request,” said the wife of the former soldier.
Kai Vaiva called the state authorities at the end of August to find out when he could deliver everything he needed. It was explained to her that Erik’s family will no longer be able to receive the benefits, as many additional documents need to be collected.
“I asked, maybe it can be done in several different stages, it is important to write a request and submit checks, and then I will collect everything, because the meeting, like everywhere else, is held once a month,” said Vaiva.
She managed to collect the documents before the September meeting, but another problem arose – Erik had already been dismissed from his position. Because according to all norms, 120 days of incapacity for work are assigned, after which the soldier is dismissed from his duties as unfit for service and transferred to the reserve.
“I did not provide checks for the period when he was already out, I only provided from the summer period when he was still on unemployment. Vilnius just assigned the allowance and said that everything was in order, but in Kaunas the request did not go through, because the meeting took place after he had already been fired,” Vaiva recalled.
Vaiva thought that maybe in August, when most of the employees of the institutions are on vacation, someone forgot to mention earlier that it would be necessary to collect a lot of data and the situation would be different, but she assures that she did everything she could.
Explained how healthcare services for soldiers are paid for
The Ministry of National Defense (KAM) explained that soldiers in professional military service are covered by compulsory health insurance, therefore health care services are provided and paid for from the funds of the compulsory health insurance (PSD) budget in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Health.
“Health care services are paid from the budget funds of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania, when they are not paid from the budget funds of the compulsory health insurance fund (for example, when it is necessary to examine soldiers, advise or clarify the diagnosis during preventive health checks and military medical examination)”, – states the Ministry of Health in a comment to the tv3.lt portal.
From the funds allocated by the Ministry of Health, health care services provided in Lithuanian health care institutions that have signed an agreement with the State Sickness Fund (VLK) are paid for:
- serving soldiers;
- reserve soldiers when they were injured for reasons related to military service or military status;
- for conscripts released from service, volunteer soldiers, other active reserve soldiers and ready reserve soldiers after performing exercises, training or other tasks – when their health disorder occurred during service.
“For reservists (when their health disorder is not related to the performance of official duties) – recipients of state pensions for officers and soldiers participating in the system of integration into the labor market and medical rehabilitation measures for officers and soldiers being released for retirement, depending on medical indications, may medical rehabilitation services (up to 21 days duration) provided at the Military Rehabilitation Center in Druskininkai, paid for from the funds of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania. These services can be provided no longer than 2 years after the date of the soldier’s release to the reserve,” the ministry says.
Other benefits and compensations
According to the current procedure, in the event of an accident during service, as well as on the way to/from service, Sodra can pay the following benefits to a soldier:
- sickness benefit;
- one-time compensation for loss of participation (starting in 2024, the level of working capacity will be replaced by the level of participation, which indicates people’s ability to participate in social life – self-ed.);
- periodical compensation for loss of participation.
Sick pay awarded to persons who have become temporarily incapacitated due to an accident at work, on the way to or from work, or an occupational disease, when the events are recognized as prohibited. Sickness benefit is granted if the right to receive it arose during the insurance period. The amount of the benefit is 77.58 percent of compensatory earnings used to calculate sickness benefits.
If the victim temporarily loses up to 20 percent of participation due to an accident or occupational disease, he is paid one-time compensation for loss of participation. Its amount is 7.76 percent of his 24 months of compensatory earnings used to calculate lump sum compensation.
In the event of a temporary loss of more than 20 percent but less than 30 percent of the participation, a lump sum payment of 15.52 percent of his 24 months of compensatory earnings used to calculate the lump sum is paid.
If the victim is found to have an indefinite loss of participation, he is paid three times the amount of one-time compensation for the loss of participation.
If it is determined that the victim has lost between 30 and 45 percent of participation due to the insured event, he is paid periodical compensation for loss of participation.
Periodic compensation is paid to a person who has lost 45 percent or more of participation due to an insured event:
1) if the person does not have the right to a social insurance disability or disability pension of the same amount or more due to the same insured event;
2) when the social insurance disability or disability pension paid to a person due to the same insured event is lower than the calculated periodical compensation for loss of participation, he is paid the difference between the periodical compensation for loss of participation and the social insurance pension for loss of workability.
Soldiers can apply to the Service Investigation Commission
If the accident occurred not only during the service, the soldier can be awarded a one-time compensation from the Ministry of Defense, after establishing a causal connection between the health disorder and the official performance of duties. This is determined by the Official Investigation Commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“Each soldier has the right to apply to the Service Investigation Commission of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the establishment of a causal relationship between the health disorder experienced and the performance of official duties. However, it should be noted that according to the regulations governing the activities of the aforementioned commission, the causal relationship of a health disorder with the performance of official duties or the status of a soldier is determined when a soldier experiences a health disorder while performing his official duties, i.e. while performing the duties (functions) provided for in the official regulations or mandatory activities determined for him by order or instruction “, KAM explains.
One-time compensation from KAM is granted if:
- is the conclusion of the Official Investigation Commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that a causal connection between the health disorder and the performance of official duties has been established;
- the soldier was issued a temporary disability certificate;
- it has been established that the soldier’s health has residual effects (motor, sensory, mental disorders) and as a result the soldier’s fitness for service has decreased or the soldier has lost his ability to work due to a health disorder.
The amount of compensation is calculated taking into account the severity of the health disorder (mild, severe, severe) according to the service pay of the corresponding military rank.
For soldiers who have suffered an injury or injury during their time off duty (if their health has deteriorated not due to the performance of official tasks), social managers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces provide social work management services (inform, consult, mediate), with the exception of social guarantees intended for the Ministry of Defense for those injured and injured during service, as well as soldiers with health problems.
Tags: story soldier suffered stroke coma opened gaps system Lithuania leave citizen trouble
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