Berlin Regional Court: Doctolib filter for statutory insured patients misleading

The Berlin Regional Court II has prohibited the doctor's appointment portal Doctolib from displaying appointments from private practices, which exclusively treat patients with statutory insurance as self-payers, when the filter “Show appointments with statutory insurance only” is active. The court thus granted a lawsuit filed by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) and deemed the practice to be a misleading commercial act. “Patients with statutory insurance must not be induced to book private consultations and self-payer appointments,” stated the vzbv.

The filter creates the legitimate expectation that only doctor's appointments will be displayed that can be billed through statutory health insurance without private prepayment. This expectation is disappointed if users are still shown appointments at private practices where patients with statutory insurance are only treated against self-payment – sometimes with advance payment. A later warning notice in the booking process is not sufficient, as the misleading information begins with the display of the appointments.

Doctolib has been ordered to cease and desist and must also bear legal costs of 350 euros. The ruling of November 18, 2025 (Ref. 52 O 149/25) is not yet legally binding.

Against this background, the vzbv is calling for clear minimum standards for commercial doctor's appointment platforms. Self-payer and private consultations must be clearly labeled and should only be displayed to patients with statutory insurance if they expressly consent.

In August 2025, the federal government had already admitted to observing problems with doctor's appointment booking portals and being in exchange with “relevant actors” about it. The occasion was a minor inquiry by the Green Party. In April 2025, the vzbv had filed the injunction against Doctolib.

The appointment service is much discussed among data protectionists. The main criticism is that the company's processing of sensitive health data is too extensive and not transparent enough. Doctolib has appeared in the activity reports of the Berlin data protection officer since 2019, as complaints are regularly received – for example, due to ambiguities in data processing. However, it has now been regulated that the lead supervisory authority is located in France.

According to its statements, 25 million patients already use Doctolib's services. Recently, the company also announced that it will further expand its offering for doctor's software and offer a practice management system.

(mack)