Last update:
29-Sep-2000

Arch Hellen Med, 17(1), January-February 2000, 101-108

MEDICO-LEGAL ISSUES

Protection of the hospital patient

A.D. ALEXIADIS
Institution of Health and Care, Technological Educational Institutions, Thessaloniki, Greece

The state over and above the provision of protection of the social rights of the citizen in matters of health, based on the principle of the Constitution (article 21 paragraph 3), has defined a set of rights of the citizen as a hospital patient, according to the provisions of Law 2071/1992, article 47. In this way a solution to a long-existing problem was outlined, while at the same time an effort was made for the legislation of these obligations. Law 25/1997, article 1 completed this important action with a special legal definition concerning the protection of the rights of the hospital patient. More recently, with the provision of Law 2716/1999, article 2, this state protection was extended to include persons with psychiatric disorders. At the international level, the most important relevant actions were the 1994 Declaration of the World Health Organization for the advancement of patients’ rights, and the Chart of 1997 for the “Protection of Human Rights and the Dignity of the Individual in relation to Biology and Medicine”, which was subsequently ratified under Law 2619/1998 by the Greek Parliament.

Key words: Obligations, Patient, Protection, Rights.