[Reasonableness of surgical interventions and compliance responsibilities in various insurance fields and under the...

According to the German Social Legal Code I (I. Sozialgesetzbuch, SGB I) the recipient of social benefits is under obligation to submit to medical treatment if such treatment would result in an improvement of his/her condition or in the prevention of further deterioration (section 63 SGB I). In certain situations, lack of cooperation may result in total or partial refusalor withdrawal of benefits (section 66 SGB I). This social law parallels the civil law which can recognize, in the area of private liability, co-delinquency in cases of refusal of reasonable treatment (section 157. section 242 and 254 GBG). In private liability insurance, the acceptance of reasonable medical treatments is contractually anchored. - In practice, the underwriter is generally unable to enforce surgical interventions. In the administration of social benefits surgical measures are exempt from the obligation of cooperation through administrative rules and guidelines of the regional state departments. The entitlement to pensions for the visually handicapped ("Blindengeld"), based on the Federal Social Benefit Law (BSHG), is regulated at the state level through state organizations. The corresponding state laws do not provide for the termination of support in cases of refusal of reasonable and prognostically promising operations. The recipients of pensions for the blind are not addressed in SGB I. Benefit recipients are therefore not penalized for refusing reasonable medical measures. - In legal accident insurance and legal social security insurance there exist, under certain conditions, obligations to cooperate in line with SGB I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)