Advancing Human Rights in Patient Care: The Law in Seven Transitional Countries
Open Society Foundations, 2013
Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 125-2013
98 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2013
Date Written: January 31, 2013
Abstract
Emerging from philosophical and legal canons where collective interests trumped individual rights, many countries in transition have yet to adequately define frameworks for protecting basic rights in the delivery of health care services. They face challenges in areas such as health care financing, transparency and corruption of governments, and updating regulatory structures, for example; all of which hamper quality and equality of health care services. Significant additional law reform is needed in some settings; in others, existing laws on informed consent, confidentiality, privacy, non-discrimination, and other issues are rarely implemented and enforced effectively. As a companion to other efforts, legal approaches can motivate improved implementation of these laws and precipitate improvements in the protection of human rights of both patients and providers in health care settings. This includes formal litigation as well as the use of alternative adjudicative mechanisms. In many transitional contexts, the capacity of legal professionals to develop and lead such litigation or the use of alternative mechanisms in the human rights and patient care arena is limited.
After defining and situating the concept of human rights in patient care, describing the general setting for health care in the region, and detailing the background and methodology of the project, we compare and contrast the legal mechanisms, cultural and professional context, and procedural particularities for vindicating patient and provider rights in these particular transitional settings. The findings suggest that significant formal legal reform over the last two decades has created significant gains in the legal frameworks and institutions designed to address human rights abuses in patient care.
The findings also suggest, however, that a number of challenges in six of the countries included here are intrinsic to a common heritage that includes vestiges of Soviet legal concepts, institutions and attitudes that complicate the full implementation of human rights legislation. The actual expression of this legal, cultural, and institutional heritage varies significantly across the participating countries; providing an opportunity to build on successes in a horizontal exchange, through knowledge transfer and regional advocacy.
Vulnerable groups stand the most to gain from efforts to bolster equity, quality, access, and other human rights in patient care. Within the context of a larger project, the information from this Compendium offers a number of promising directions for future programming and research efforts aimed at advancing human rights in patient care. A discussion of how these findings inform future research, programmatic, and funding activities conclude this Compendium.
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