COMPENSATION TO THE CLOSEST MEMBERS OF A PERSON WHO IS IN A VEGETATIVE STATE

On 27th of March 2018 the crucial ruling of the Supreme Court was issued. It concerned pecuniary compensation granted to the closest members of a person who is in a vegetative state preventing him from communicating with outside world  – according to article 448 in connection with article 24 of the Civil Code, which allows granting pecuniary compensation for infringement on personal rights. The problem is a result of the controversy entered around the possibility of claiming compensation for the death of a family member (based on art. 446 § 4 of the Civil Code) and the lack of such a possibility in case the family member suffered heavy injury, resulting in practice in the family being unable to contact the person (e.g. coma, whole body paralysis etc.).

The ruling was issued in connection with a case in which the plaintiffs were parents of a girl who suffered from severe and irreparable brain damage  resulting in her vegetative state.

The Supreme Court stated that family bonds are one of the personal rights protected by civil law and that the cases should not be differentiated on the basis of whether the bond was broken as a result of death of the closest person or as a result of him or her being in a vegetative state. Both situation makes it impossible to satisfy the natural human need to be close to members of his or her family.

The Supreme Court stated that pecuniary compensation should be granted if the following two prerequisites are met:

  1. The family bond had to be strong and it had to have a special character;
  2. As a result of a vegetative state of the person the bond had to be completely broken.

III CZP 60/17

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