[Doctors' sickness certification practice]

Sickness certification is a frequent task for doctors. The economic consequences are important for the community. One problem is that many patients have subjective symptoms that cannot be verified by objective criteria. This paper describes the history of a patient in order to illustrate some of the challenges doctors meet when they have to issue sickness certificates to patients with such illnesses. The problem underlines how important it is for doctors to know in detail the rules laid down by the National Insurance Administration. The more important rules are described in the present paper.