Croatian ombudsman probes hospital dress-code rule after woman forced to change clothes
The Croatian ombudsman has opened an inquiry into a hospital’s policy that barred a woman in a summer dress from booking an ultrasound until she changed into more appropriate attire.
An investigation has been launched by Croatia’s ombudsman, Tena Šimonović Einwalter, into the dress-code enforcement at a spliti clinical centre. The probe follows an incident where a 32-year-old woman, wearing a floor-length, wide-sleeved summer dress, was told by a reception employee that her attire was not acceptable for a hospital visit. She was able to change into spare clothing she had in her bag and then secured an appointment for her son’s abdominal ultrasound.
After the exchange, the security guard approached her to apologize. The hospital maintains that patients and visitors should present a “cultured” appearance, even in hot weather, but it exempts emergency cases. The ombudsman is reviewing whether the centre applied its policy uniformly and respected patients’ health-care rights.
Why it matters
It tests how medical institutions balance dress codes with patients' rights to access care.
In this story
