Asklepios Kliniken
Profile
Asklepios Kliniken is a major hospital operator in Germany. Founded by billionaire Bernard Broermann in 1984 to capitalize on the privatization of government healthcare facilities, Asklepios recently expanded into the luxury hotel sector with the purchase of three Kempinski hotels. It has been the subject of multiple investigations and faced lawsuits as well as protests for failing to provide services that it promised when it bought up hospitals at below market value. For example, at the end of 2019, Asklepios closed a children’s ward in the small town of Parchim in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, obliging residents to travel 50 kilometers to get to the nearest medical facility. Goslar district in Lower Saxony sued Asklepios Kliniken for €20 million in 2019 for failing to guarantee inpatient and emergency care at the Clausthal-Zellerfeld hospital. This has brought up debates of whether privatization of government-owned clinics was helpful or not, with unions and social movements calling for the re-municipilization of Asklepios clinics on multiple occasions.
Private hospitals, luxury hotels
Violations
Violation data for Asklepios Kliniken is still being gathered at this time.
Stories
- Privatization of hospitals: Get out of the "uniform cement desert of collectivism"! by Krankenhaus Statt Fabrik (2021)
- Privatization of hospitals: "A great economic monopoly" by Sabine Rieser (2006)
Activism
150 employees of the Asklepios Pulmonary Clinic protest against abuses
Volker Ufertinger | Merkur | December 21, 2022
The staff of the Asklepios Clinic in Gauting expressed their displeasure on Tuesday. There was not only criticism of politics, but also of the company itself.
Petition: New Hospital in Melsungen
Die Linke | December 20, 2022
We call on the Schwalm-Eder district to plan and implement the construction of a new hospital in Melsungen as soon as possible so that good inpatient emergency and basic care for people in the region can be guaranteed again... In 2006, the district hospitals were sold to the Asklepios hospital group with the votes of the SPD, FDP, FWG and parts of the Green Party. What was highly praised in the district council as an improvement in health care has turned into the exact opposite: Asklepios has proven incapable of providing basic clinical care in Melsungen.
Protest action at the University Hospital Gießen and Marburg: "The privatization was a big mistake!"
Marianne Arens | World Socialist Web Site | September 23, 2022
The Asklepios group, which took over Rhön-Klinikum AG, owner of UKGM, two years ago, is known for the tough enforcement of outsourcing and lowering salaries in its clinics.
Asklepios Kliniken and Verdi reach agreement in wage dispute
KMA Online | November 30, 2021
After a wage strike spanning eight rounds of negotiations, the Verdi trade union and the Asklepios Kliniken Brandenburg have agreed on a wage increase and a tax-free COVID-19 bonus. (There have been almost yearly warning strikes as part of union negotiations with management)
Rhön-Klinikum: Attac protests in Bad Neustadt an der Saale
Leon Willner | BR24 | June 9, 2021
Rhön-Klinikum AG is expecting protests at today's general meeting. The non-governmental organization Attac demonstrated at the headquarters of the clinic group in Bad Neustadt an der Saale: No profits should be made with health.
Rally in Tölz: Harsh criticism of Asklepios city clinic
Ewald Scheitterer | Das Gelbe Blatt | May 5, 2021
The recent dismissal of 15 ward assistants from the Tölz Asklepios city clinic and the demand to "take the privately run hospital back under the care of the public sector" were the topics that ran like a red thread through the speeches of all speakers at the May rally of the trade union "ver.di".
After dismissing a nurse: Continuous protest in front of Asklepios Kliniken
André Zuschlag | TAZ | January 18, 2021
The Hamburg hospital movement, an association of nursing staff, continues to protest against the dismissal of a colleague by the hospital group Asklepios.
Asklepios Seesen: Spontaneous protest accompanies award ceremony
Harz Kurier | August 14, 2020
With the motto "We feel let down", an employee was hung upside down from the tree in front of the main entrance to the applause of her colleagues.
Rally against takeover of the university clinic in Giessen
Diana Moor | Mittel Hessen | July 16, 2020
About 150 people gathered on Saturday after a call by the action alliance "Together for our clinic" to show their solidarity with the employees at the University Hospital Gießen and Marburg (UKGM). The motto: "Health instead of profits".
Protest against "catastrophic conditions" in clinics
Hamburger Abendblatt | February 2, 2020
In order to show their protest in the city, around 500 supporters of the initiative - according to the police - marched with banners and whistles from the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg via Mönckebergstrasse to the town hall on Wednesday.
Asklepios Clinic: Loud whistles against the closure of the Parchim children's clinic
SVZ | September 22, 2019
With large banners, colorful signs and homemade posters, participants in the protest in front of the hospital show what they think of the closure of the children's hospital.
Asklepios Clinic in Sankt Augustin: Large protest for the preservation of the children's hospital
Bettina Köhl | General-Anzeiger | July 6, 2019
The support for the children's clinic in Sankt Augustin, which is threatened with closure, is huge. Around 600 people, including many children, protested in front of the hospital on Saturday afternoon, and the online petition had more than 31,000 supporters by Sunday evening.
International:
Germany:
- United Services Trade Union (Ver.di)
- Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
- Marburg Federation
- Hospitals Instead of Factories
- German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
- Labour Net Germany
- Federation of Democratic Workers' Associations (DIDF)
- Hamburg Alliance for More Staff in Hospitals
- Hamburger Hospital Movement
- Attac Hamburg
- Action Alliance Together for Our Clinic
- Office against Age Discrimination
- We've Had Enough
& Lawsuits
Rhön boss threatens to sue for millions
Oberhessische Presse | July 2, 2022
The state of Hessen does not want to buy back the clinic – and it does not want to sell the Rhön group either.
Legal action against Asklepios Klinik Melsungen
KMA Online | February 24, 2021
According to reports from the regional media hna and nh24, the Schwalm-Eder district wants to file a lawsuit against Asklepios. The clinic operator is accused of not fulfilling its supply mandate in Melsungen.
After a dispute with the nurse: Asklepios surprisingly withdraws her resignation
Hamburger Morgenpost | February 17, 2021
The dismissal of the Hamburg nurse Romana Knezevic made waves. In an interview in December, she was critical of the lack of staff in the Hamburg Asklepios clinics and was fired for "false statements of facts". The case went to court – now the clinic has withdrawn the notice.
Serious allegations against Asklepios Group
Markus Pohl, Ursel Sieber and Lisa Wandt | Tagesschau | July 20, 2020
At the end of last year, the clinic group Asklepios closed a children's ward in the small town of Parchim. Supposedly due to a shortage of doctors. But Asklepios was probably lying, as research by the ARD magazine has found.
Lich Asklepios Clinic wants to pay 42,000 euros in damages
Jasmin Mosel | Mittel Hessen | November 20, 2019
A woman arrived at the emergency room at the Asklepios Clinic in Lich with severe chest pain. While awaiting treatment, she suffered a heart attack.
Goslar district files lawsuit against Asklepios
Aerzteblatt | April 29, 2019
The district accuses Asklepios of violating the obligations under the privatization contract of the Clausthal-Zellerfeld hospital, where inpatient and emergency care are no longer guaranteed. The lawsuit involves a contractual penalty of up to 20 million euros.
Judgment of the State Labor Court: Asklepios Göttingen must withdraw warnings due to hazard reports from nurses
Ver.di | November 23, 2018
The nurses Lidia S. and Ruth R. are happy, proud and relieved at the same time: The state labor court (LAG) in Hanover has also ruled against their employer in their lawsuits in the second instance. Asklepios has to withdraw the warnings that the clinic management had issued to both of them.
Hamburg: Parliament majority wants to review the LBK sale to Asklepios again
Care Invest | May 11, 2017
In a joint application, the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party in Hamburg are demanding the submission of all contracts, files, processes, e-mails, reports and other documents related to the partial privatization of the state hospitals. The clinics were sold to the Asklepios Group in 2005...
Investigation: Asklepios-Kliniken: The sick company
Kristina Gnirke, Isabell Hülsen and Martin U. Müller | Spiegel | December 21, 2016
The hospital group Asklepios has the reputation of a merciless profit driver that makes profits at the expense of doctors, nurses and patients. Pressure and fear reign at many stations. Insights into a miserable system.
Unexplained death at Asklepios Clinic
Dörte Petsch and Sabine Puls | NDR | February 2, 2016
The Hamburg public prosecutor continues to investigate the unexplained death of Thomas Schmidt. The 29-year-old was treated at two Hamburg Asklepios clinics in March 2014 and died. Now there is a new allegation against the Asklepios Clinic Altona, where Thomas Schmidt died.
Hamburg Asklepios Clinic: Cancer patients received inadequate radiation – public prosecutor investigates
SHZ | February 2, 2015
The public prosecutor's office is now also concerned with the incorrect radiation treatment of ten cancer patients in a Hamburg clinic. A spokeswoman said on Tuesday that it would be checked whether investigations should be initiated.
& Relations
Harsh criticism of Asklepios
Sebastian Peters | Hamburg 24 | December 15, 2022
In the dispute about the bottleneck in emergency care, the doctors described the demands of the Asklepios clinics as "unrealistic" and "nonsensical".
"Endless work" - Asklepios employees tell their stories
Hessenschau | July 7, 2020
Even before the new owner arrived, the employees of the Gießen and Marburg University Hospital demonstrated. Because Asklepios has a dubious reputation as an employer. But what are the real problems? Employees at Hessian Asklepios clinics explain.
At Asklepios, there is a risk of short-time work - heavy criticism from ver.di and the Marburger Bund
Marvin König | Regional Heute | April 17, 2020
According to reports by the Marburger Bund and the Ver.di union, the clinic operator Asklepios has submitted plans to the works councils, according to which all employees of the Asklepios clinics in Schildautal in Seesen are to switch to short-time work.
Union outraged: "Asklepios management is threatening employees with dismissal!"
Beobachter Online | October 2, 2019
According to the trade union ver.di, the management of the Asklepios Kliniken Schildautal in Seesen is taking aggressive measures to prevent the employees from going on the announced strike. For example, an illegal, unilateral obligation to serve was declared, termination was threatened if they took part in a strike, and a strike-breaking bonus was offered.
Criticism of the hospital group Asklepios: Only for profitable patients
Marthe Ruddat | TAZ | August 1, 2019
The situation in the rheumatology department at the Asklepios Clinic in Altona. Almost all specialists and assistant doctors there resigned within a few months. This is what it says in an anonymous letter that was sent to TAZ.
Asklepios Group: Doctors warn of risks due to staff shortages
Kristina Gnirke | Spiegel | November 24, 2018
Bottlenecks in the emergency room, young professionals left to their own devices: At the hospital group Asklepios, internists sound the alarm in fire letters. Safe patient care is "no longer possible without restrictions".
Asklepios | Hundreds of employees are to be moved to companies without collective agreements
Ver.di | April 1, 2016
The management of Asklepios Kliniken Hamburg GmbH has announced a change in operations with massive restructuring by the end of June. The non-medical services in particular are to be restructured.
Staff shortages at clinics for vulnerable patients
Dörte Petsch and Brid Roesner | NDR | January 27, 2015
The conditions in the emergency room at the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg-Altona make you sit up and take notice: emergency room employees have been complaining about staff shortages and overwork for a long time.
Striking service workers: Two-class society
Kai von Appen | TAZ | May 16, 2013
The service employees of the Asklepios clinics are excluded from the collective agreement. Now an in-house tariff is intended to prevent precarious employment relations.
Allegations by external psychotherapists: Criticism of Asklepios continues
Göttinger Tageblatt | March 22, 2013
In a letter to the daily newspaper, the Heiligenstadt psychotherapists Jasmin Höch, Doris Janssen and Dieter Ruck criticize that they have been following “with great concern the deterioration in inpatient psychiatric care since the Asklepios Group took over the state hospitals”.
Asklepios sets up a threatening backdrop: Clinic operator announces layoffs and closures
Dieter Hanisch | ND Jornalismus von Links | October 13, 2012
The collective bargaining talks between the clinic operator Asklepios and the employees are not progressing. Now Asklepios is bringing out the heavy artillery.
Hamburg: 2000 employees of the privatized clinic want to return to public service.
Andreas Grünwald | Junge Welt | August 1, 2007
In Hamburg, around 2,000 of the approximately 12,500 employees of the privatized former state hospitals (LBK), now Asklepios Kliniken, want to exercise their right to return to public service. Around 6,000 employees who were already employed by the LBK in 1995 have this right.
Covid-19
Criticism of the use of the armed forces in a private clinic is growing
RBB | January 20, 2022
Among them were angry comments: "So disgusting," wrote a Facebook user. "First they kick people out, then get free staff from the state. It's unbelievable."
Investigations against Asklepios Kliniken Seesen due to suspected fraud
KMA Online | December 2, 2021
The Asklepios Kliniken Schildautal Seesen is being investigated on suspicion of fraud in COVID-19 aid. The background to this may be wrongly received payments for intensive care beds, as a spokesman for the Braunschweig public prosecutor said on Friday.
Protest in front of Tölz Clinic: "Applause doesn't pay rent"
Merkur | December 2, 2021
"Health before profit", "Privatization harms your health": Such slogans could be read on banners on Saturday at the May rally in front of the Asklepios city clinic in Tölz.
In the middle of the COVID-19 crisis: The city clinic throws out station staff - devastating criticism of the operator
Andreas Steppan, Melina Staar and Silke Scheder | Merkur | March 20, 2021
Nine station assistants at the Asklepios city clinic in Bad Tölz lose their jobs. This news calls for loud criticism of the plan.
German hospital group terminates nurse after criticism of situation in ICUs
Markus Salzmann | World Socialist Web Site | January 12, 2021
In the midst of the pandemic, the privatized hospitals are putting staff and patients under enormous stress in order to grind out greater profits. Reports of the terrible conditions in intensive care units (ICUs) are being brutally suppressed.
Hamburg hospital staff complains of enormous stress
Süddeutsche | December 16, 2020
Employees from private, non-profit and church hospitals in Hamburg have drawn attention to their enormous workload during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The colleagues are at the absolute limit," said an employee of the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg on Wednesday.
Masks in Hamburg Asklepios Kliniken: Suitable or not?
André Zuschlag | TAZ | December 15, 2020
The Hamburg Alliance for More Hospital Staff is sounding the alarm: In an open letter to Social Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD), the alliance criticizes that the COVID-19 protection measures for nurses in the Asklepios clinics are not sufficient.
Response to the ARD report "The Market Makes Medicine": COVID-19 Pandemic and Privatization in Healthcare
Martin Nowak and Marianne Arens | World Socialist Web Site | July 29, 2020
The decisive reason for the clear cut is the privatization orgy of the last 30 years. While around 500 hospitals were closed during this time, the number of private clinics grew steadily at the expense of public institutions and reached a share of 37.5 percent in 2018.
Filipino nurses will come to Germany
Welt | March 20, 2020
Nurses from the Philippines will help Germany to care for Covid-19 patients. According to the Hessian Hospital Society, a "recruitment flight" for intensive care staff is planned.
Financials
Note: Not a complete list.
Asklepios Kliniken is a privately held company.
Major Projects
University Hospital Gießen and Marburg: Criticism of the agreement between clinic and local government
Ver.di | February 28, 2023
"Those who don't earn much already will continue to fear for their jobs. Politicians could have protected their colleagues from the company’s blackmail. Now the same scandals are threatening us at other Asklepios/Rhön locations,” Fabian Dzewas-Rehm, ver.di trade union secretary, said, regarding outsourcing at other Asklepios clinics in Hamburg and Lich.
Protest in Gießen against the new owner of the university hospital
Gießener Allgemeine | August 17, 2020
With a protest on the church square, the alliance "Together for our clinic" expressed solidarity with the employees at the UKGM. The Asklepios group is at the center of the criticism.
Asklepios Building in Bad Oldesloe: Conflict involving millions as planned storage facility cancelled
Markus Arndt and Nadja Aswad | Bild | January 22, 2020
Now the cancellation by the clinic group caught the city off guard. Asklepios is said to have been offered several plots of land, which were rejected, and the dispute has been smoldering for a long time.
Clinic group Asklepios is taking over the luxury hotel “Atlantic” – a slap in the face for employees and patients
Jens Berger | NachDenkSeiten | December 12, 2014
While Asklepios owner Broermann publicly laments the hospitals' financial difficulties and his employees break down due to the intensification of work, the group is apparently making so much money that he doesn't even know what to do with it.
Hungry octopus: Private clinic operator Asklepios officially reaches for the Catholic Mariahilf hospital
Marco Carini | TAZ | January 3, 2007
Asklepios is planning to merge the Mariahilf Hospital with AK Harburg, which belongs to the LBK and with which it has been working since 2001 in obstetrics, paediatrics and surgery.
Also a type of tariff evasion: Asklepios closes rehabilitation clinic
Reimar Paul | TAZ | November 21, 2020
Bitter end to a month-long collective bargaining conflict: The Asklepios Group has announced that it will close its rehabilitation clinic in Seesen in the Harz Mountains.
Takeover of Rhön-Klinikum AG by Asklepios: ver.di criticizes concentration of market power and demands collective agreements for all employees
Ver.di | March 2, 2020
"With the planned takeover, the concentration of companies in the hospital sector will continue to increase. In the future, three large hospital groups will appear with concentrated power on the German hospital market. It must be prevented that this comes at the expense of public and non-profit providers," said Sylvia Bühler, member on the ver.di national board.
Expansion of the Asklepios Clinic: Residents threaten to sue
Katrin Stassig | OP Online | September 10, 2018
The residents had already made their protest public a year ago. They defend themselves against "this monstrous and overwhelming building" at a distance of less than six meters from their property line, demanding a distance of 20 meters.
The wrong game with Tunisian nursing students in Hamburg
Jens Berger | NachDenkSeiten | August 19, 2013
In fact, it looks as if Asklepios is more concerned with recruiting cheap labor and shifting a large part of the project's costs onto the young Tunisians.
Protests against the sale of the Schwalm-Eder Clinics
Meine Politik | December 22, 2006
The district of Schwalm-Eder will get one euro as the purchase price and will pay a renovation subsidy of 15.9 million euros.
Procurement
CorpWatch is still gathering procurement data for Asklepios Kliniken at this time.