Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a dietitian
Dietary advice affects your client's health and sometimes their medication. The loss is therefore rarely purely financial, and the form of policy you choose is decisive.
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In brief
The risks in dietetics lie in the interplay with the rest of the treatment. An energy- and carbohydrate-restricted diet for someone taking blood-glucose-lowering medication, without consulting the treating clinician, can upset their control. In severe malnutrition there is refeeding syndrome. An elimination diet for a child without supplementation can cause a deficiency. And with tube feeding or a renal diet, a wrong calculation works through directly in the client's body.
That makes the form of policy important. Your mistake leads to damage to health and not only to wasted money. So choose professional indemnity insurance with a healthcare variant in which personal injury caused in the course of your profession is expressly included. The standard is that of a good care provider under Article 7:453 of the Dutch Civil Code; as a dietitian you fall under Article 34 of the Wet BIG (the Dutch Individual Healthcare Professions Act), with a protected qualification title but without a disciplinary tribunal of your own, and complaints follow the route laid down by the Wkkgz (the Dutch healthcare quality, complaints and disputes act).
Pay separate attention to what you sell. As soon as you supply supplements, meal replacements or shakes, you are not only an adviser but also a supplier. Loss caused by such a product falls under product liability and not under this policy. If you work in a practice with colleagues, in integrated care or under contracts with health insurers, further questions arise; those are covered under the dietetics practice.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
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You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
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We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that make the difference for a self-employed dietitian when a claim arrives.
Record your contact with doctor and pharmacy
For clients with diabetes, renal failure, anticoagulation or oncological treatment, your advice is part of a larger whole. Record who you consulted, which test results you used and what advice you fed back to the referrer. A lack of consultation is the first thing checked when a claim arrives.
Report your client group and field of work
If you treat children, people with eating disorders, elite athletes or clients on tube feeding at home, state this when you apply. These groups are assessed separately and are sometimes excluded. Work that has not been reported can, under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code, have consequences for payment of a claim, even years later.
Keep advice and sales apart
Advising on a supplement is professional conduct. Supplying it yourself makes you a link in the product chain, with liability under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code if a product is defective. That loss falls outside professional indemnity insurance. If you sell as a matter of course, arrange separate product liability cover.
What falls outside the policy
Excluded are, among others: loss caused by products supplied; guarantees of results about weight loss or performance; intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code); and the refunding your own treatment fee or repeating a course of treatment.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover from consultations: the usual basis for an independent practice
- Client groups: clinical dietetics and child nutrition weigh more heavily than general dietary advice
- Sale of products: determines whether product liability cover has to be added
- Working on site: consultations at clients' homes or in an institution change the risk profile
- Sum insured: match it to the most demanding client group you treat
- Retroactive period: important because nutrition-related harm becomes apparent late
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A severely malnourished client's control is upset because feeding was built up too quickly | No | Provided that |
| A client trips over your weighing equipment in the treatment room | Yes | No |
| An athlete fails to make his weight class and demands a refund of the programme fee | No | No |
| A client suffers stomach complaints from a meal replacement you sold yourself | Provided that | No |
| A nursing home has to re-purchase its menu after your advice turns out to be wrong | No | Yes |
| Your laptop containing client records is stolen from your car | No | No |
Harm to health caused by your advice is only insured if injury arising from your professional practice is stated on the policy; check that in advance.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is harm to health caused by my dietary advice insured?
Only if your policy covers injury arising from your professional practice. Many standard forms of professional indemnity insurance are limited to financial detriment and are written for advisory professions. So ask expressly for the healthcare variant and check it on the policy schedule. Public and employers' liability insurance does not fill this gap: it specifically excludes liability arising from professional practice.
I also give dietary advice through an online programme. Does that change anything?
Yes, report it. In remote guidance you can observe less and you work more often with data the client supplies himself. Insurers assess online programmes and subscription models separately, partly because the reach is greater and one mistake in a standard plan affects many participants. Set out in your terms what the programme is and is not.
How long can I be held to account for a piece of advice?
Longer than the treatment lasts. Under Article 7:454 of the Dutch Civil Code you must keep your records for twenty years, and complaints can also come after the treatment has ended. In insurance terms, under a claims-made policy the moment of notification counts. If you close your practice, arrange run-off cover before you cancel, otherwise you face those late claims yourself.
A client has not lost weight and wants his money back.
That is not an insured loss. Refunding your own fee and redoing your own work fall outside the cover. What is insured is the detriment the client suffers through a mistake on your part. Avoid the discussion as well: describe your guidance as a duty to use best efforts and do not include weight targets as a promise in your quotation or on your website.
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