Facts
The appellant D., born in 1958, first registered with the Disability Insurance (IV) on July 25, 2001 and was granted a full pension retroactively from April 1, 2002 on May 6, 2003. In the context of a revision procedure initiated by the IV office in early 2005, it ordered on May 31, 2005 the immediate cessation of pension payments, as D. had refused to undergo a reasonable hip surgery to improve his earning capacity.
D. had initially refused the surgery, but then underwent it on August 31, 2005. The Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich partially upheld the appeal against the objection decision of the IV office and ordered the pension payments to be discontinued only from August 1, 2005.
D. appeals against this decision in public law matters and requests that he continue to receive a pension from August 2005.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It considers the discontinuation of pension payments as of August 1, 2005 to be lawful, as D. had refused the hip surgery deemed reasonable by the IV office, although according to the medical reports it would have likely resulted in a significant improvement in his earning capacity.
The Federal Supreme Court states that D. was sufficiently informed about the necessity and reasonableness of the surgery and was given enough time to undergo the procedure. His refusal to undergo the surgery constitutes a breach of his duty to mitigate damages, which justifies the discontinuation of the pension.
However, the sanction under…