41 Case No. 12/04705 The authorities had refused to extend a man’s sickness benefit period, among other reasons because he did not have a sufficiently certain and specific medical prognosis for when he would be able to resume work. In order for the man to have a right to have his sickness benefit period extended, the doctor had to assess that the man would be able to resume work within two years. After the refusal, the man obtained a supplementary medical statement, from which it appeared that the doctor had not previously been asked when the man would be well enough to work. In the doctor’s assessment, the man would be able to resume work within the two-year deadline. The man complained to the Ombudsman, who forwarded his complaint and the medical statement to the Employment Appeals Board. However, after a medical consultant had looked at all the medical information in the case, the Board upheld its decision to cease paying the man sickness benefit. If new information of importance to a case turns up after the authorities have made a decision in the case, the Ombudsman will consider whether the authorities should have the opportunity of looking at the case again. Case No. 13/03713 On a summer evening in 2013, at 20:00, 41 po­lice personnel gathered at the Center Sandholm asylum centre to participate in the forced deportation of 18 Afghan men. Accompanying them on the journey were also a physician, an interpreter and a representative of the Ombudsman. The group were transported to the airport in buses and cars and with police escort. The plane took off at 23:00. The flight to Kabul took just over eight hours, and water and sandwiches were served during the flight. At 7:45 the returnees started to leave the plane in Kabul and were received by Afghan authorities. When all the men had disembarked in Afghanistan, the plane returned to Denmark. The Ombudsman representative afterwards described the trip as well-prepared and mostly characterised by a good atmosphere. The police did, however, have to use a restraint belt in three instances on the trip, and the Ombudsman representative deemed this to be necessary and reasonable in the circumstances. The Ombudsman monitors that forced deportations of foreign nationals by the police are carried out with respect for the individual and without unnecessary use of force.