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Patient injury: compensation from the Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation (NPE)

Draft, translated: translated from the Norwegian original with the help of a language model, and may contain errors. The Norwegian version is the authoritative one. See the Norwegian original →

If you have been injured because of a failure in the health care you received, you can apply for compensation from NPE. The conditions, the three-year deadline, and how to appeal.

Norwegian original last checked against official sources: 14 October 2026. Rules and figures change, so always check the official site before you act.

The Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation (Norsk pasientskadeerstatning, NPE) is a state agency that handles claims for compensation when patients have been injured by health care. It covers injuries at public and private hospitals and at privately practising specialists. Alternative treatment, such as acupuncture, is usually not covered.

Three conditions must be met

According to NPE, all of these must be met:

The injury is caused by a failure in the health care. The injury must result from treatment, examination, diagnosis or follow-up, and be due to a failure. If the injury comes from the illness you were treated for, you are not entitled to compensation. In rare cases you can get compensation without a failure, if the injury is especially large and unexpected.
You have a financial loss, for example expenses for doctors, medicines and travel, or lost income. The loss must be at least NOK 10,000. If you do not have such a loss, you may still get compensation for permanent injury (menerstatning) if the injury is lasting (usually at least ten years) and significant (at least 15 per cent medical disability). Pain and suffering (tort og svie) is not compensated.
The claim is not too old (see the deadline below).

If the loss is under NOK 10,000, NPE asks you to contact the place where the injury happened directly.

The deadline: three years

You must apply within three years after you understood, or should have understood, that it was the treatment or lack of treatment that caused the injury. The deadline starts when you know about the injury, the loss or the lasting disability, and who is responsible, and you have some duty to find this out yourself. Claims older than 20 years are, as a rule, time-barred in any case.

The deadline stops when you report the claim to NPE. NPE writes that in some cases, especially with temporary injuries, it can be wise to wait until you know whether the injury will be lasting or the loss will exceed NOK 10,000. If in doubt, call NPE before the deadline runs out.

How to apply

Read the conditions on NPE's website (Norwegian).
Apply digitally via NPE's website. Processing is free of charge.
If you have questions, you can call NPE on 22 99 45 00.

The Patient and User Ombudsman (Pasient- og brukerombudet) in your county gives free advice and can help you with the application.

If your claim is rejected

You can appeal. The deadline for appeals is three weeks from the decision.
The appeal is sent to NPE. If NPE does not change the decision, it forwards the appeal to the Patient Injury Compensation Board (Pasientskadenemnda). Helseklage is the board's secretariat and handles the case.
If the Board does not rule in your favour, you can take the case to court.

Tip: Write down what happened, with dates, while you remember it. Keep receipts for expenses and documentation of lost income. If you think health personnel did something wrong and want it assessed as a supervisory matter, that is something different from compensation. Read complaining about health services.

Sources

Kontaktpunkt24 gives general information, not legal advice. If you need help with your own case, contact a lawyer, a legal aid service, or the relevant authority.

This page is translated from Norwegian with the help of a language model, and may contain errors. The Norwegian version is always the authoritative one.