Social Medicine and Medical Ethics · MU Plovdiv

12. Patients' rights. Professionalism

Inside: 8 sections · 1 table · 15 flashcards · 5 min

Topic 12 of 80 in the MU Plovdiv syllabus for Social Medicine and Medical Ethics (Medicine, Years 2 and 3). The free AceMed note covers it in 8 sections, about 611 words (5 min of reading), with 15 flashcards.

In this note

  1. Introduction
  2. Concept and sources of patient rights
  3. Core patient rights
  4. Informed consent and confidentiality
  5. Patient rights and corresponding physician duties
  6. Professionalism: definition and core values
  7. Professional behaviour in practice
  8. Limits, special situations and protection of rights

Introduction

This topic covers the rights that patients hold in relation to their health care and the professional standards, values and behaviour that doctors are expected to show in return. It links the legal and ethical basis of patient rights with the concept of medical professionalism, which is what makes those rights respected in everyday practice.

Concept and sources of patient rights

Patient rights are entitlements of a person receiving health care, recognised in law and in professional ethics. They rest mainly on respect for autonomy and on human dignity. The move from paternalistic medicine to shared decision-making made these rights central to modern practice. The main sources are:

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and later international human rights instruments
  • WMA Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient, first adopted in 1981 and revised later
  • Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo, 1997), a binding treaty for the states that have ratified it
  • National legislation, including the Bulgarian Health Act, which sets out patients' rights and duties

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