What rights do you have as an amputee?

You have several rights and opportunities that it is important that you know about. What you and your loved ones need will naturally vary with regard to your circumstances. Some expenses are covered by the Norwegian National Insurance’s benefit schemes (NAV), while other benefits are means-tested.

Rights Acts

Some of the most important laws that you are covered by as a patient and user are the Patient and User Rights Act. This gives, among other things, the right to:

• necessary healthcare (incl. rehabilitation) from the specialist healthcare service (§ 2-1 b)
• assessment (§ 2-2)
• renewed assessment (§ 2-3)
• free choice of treatment (§ 2-4)
• individual plan (§ 2-5)
• participation in the processing (§ 3-1)
• information (§ 3-2) etc.

If you believe that one of your rights has been violated, you can contact the patient and user ombudsman in your health region for help and guidance, and possibly complain to those who have made the decision and/or the State Administrator, cf. § 7-2 . On the Statsforvalteren’s website, they have also published good information on how to go about making a complaint.

If you wish to exercise your right to free choice of treatment, it can often make sense to contact the institution directly for further guidance and the further process for treatment and stay. It may also be useful to see other relevant rights described at HelseNorge.no .

Useful websites

Helsenorge.no
https://helsenorge.no
Change GP. core record, patient journeys, prescriptions, treatment centres, patient journeys, exemption cards and deductibles, European social security card, vaccines.

The Joint Organization of the Disabled (FFO)
http://ffo.no/
FFO’s overall goal is societal equality and participation for the disabled. They want to make the everyday lives of the disabled and chronically ill better. The goal of the FFO collaboration is to promote common political behavior so that together we stand stronger in our wishes and demands in the face of those who make decisions.

Important laws

Activity aids

Regardless of age, you can apply for activity aids. If you are over 26, the deductible is 10% of the purchase price, limited to NOK 4,000.

The criteria for aids for people over the age of 26 are:

• That the user must have a significant and permanent functional disability.
• That the aid should enable the user to participate in physical activity.
• That the product is not available in ordinary trade and is specially made for people with functional impairments.
• If adaptations are necessary for a product found in ordinary trade to be usable, support for adaptation can be applied for.

Support is not given for aids to be used in a time-limited rehabilitation/habilitation process/treatment. For people who cannot use normal activity aids, aids that have been specially developed for activating the locomotor system can be given

Read more about the scheme at nav.no.

Car, housing and other

You can also apply for car allowance, accommodation and more.

There are different schemes and different rates depending on needs. Subsidies for cars and housing are means-tested schemes. You can apply for a rehabilitation stay, work clearance allowance, disability benefit, allowance for various aids depending on what you need.

It applies to different rates and which benefit you can get and which rate depends on your needs and how well-founded your application is. Car and housing benefits are means-tested support schemes. If you need financial help to overcome or adapt to a difficult life situation, you can apply for this from the municipality, cf. Social Services Act § 19 . This applies, for example, to travel expenses for the disabled.