Austrian OGH on Paramedic Liability

Oct 22, 2026 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) considered whether an ambulance service could be liable for alleged negligence by its paramedics during an emergency response and whether that response was governed by private law.

Medical negligence

In January 2022, the claimant called the emergency number 144 for first aid because he was experiencing severe physical distress symptoms. The emergency dispatch centre assigned an ambulance service to attend. Although the paramedics observed, among other things, that the patient was sweating profusely and his skin was cold and clammy, they initially neither submitted a situation report to the dispatch centre nor requested an emergency physician. An emergency physician was requested only after the claimant had lost consciousness and suffered cardiorespiratory arrest while being placed in the ambulance.

The claimant sought damages and a declaration of liability for any future harm. The ambulance service argued that it had no contractual relationship with him and had acted only on the dispatch centre’s instruction.

Special relationship of obligation with the ambulance service

The OGH held that, under Section 1313a of the Austrian General Civil Code (Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, ABGB), the ambulance service may be liable for any medical negligence by its paramedics. The statutory duty of the ambulance service in the case at hand argued that carrying out the emergency response is itself sufficient to establish a special relationship of obligation between that service and the patient in need of assistance, protecting the patient’s interests in bodily integrity.

The dispatch centre’s role is, as a rule, confined to referral and co-ordination. The fact that it instructed the ambulance service to attend does not preclude the existence of such a special relationship. Accordingly, it was unnecessary to determine conclusively whether a contract for treatment and transport had also been concluded.

Emergency ambulance response is not an exercise of public authority

The OGH further held that an emergency ambulance response does not constitute the exercise of statutory powers for the purposes of the Austrian Public Liability Act (Amtshaftungsgesetz). The decisive question is whether, in dealing with the patient, the emergency personnel exercise sovereign powers of command or compulsion. As a rule, paramedics attending an emergency do not exercise such powers.

OGH 1 Ob 78/26s (27 August 2026)