European journal of health law
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All European countries are now facing a situation where a part of the population consists of migrants without a permit to stay or reside. These persons may have health problems, and the question then rises regarding health services to irregular migrants. Normally, welfare benefits are offered those with a relationship to the country concerned, as citizen, asylum seeker, tourist, etc. ⋯ On the other hand, common European standards of humanity lay obligations on the States, for example, where situations are life-threatening. This contribution gives an overview of relevant legal instruments, both from the UN, Council of Europe and the European Union. Although there are many similarities, the instruments have their differences, and there may even be some tensions regarding the underlying values.
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The Act of 6 November 2008 on Patients' Rights and the Commissioner for Patients' Rights collect and safeguard patients' basic rights as well as provide, for the first time in Poland, an original concept for patients' collective rights. In addition, the new Act stipulates the specific mechanism for protecting patients' rights by the newly established body called the Commissioner for Patients' Rights. Polish reform of medical law will undoubtedly contribute to the expected ratification of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. However, the nature of codified rights is relatively abstract, and the Act cannot be read without reference to legislation related to physicians and health care institutions.
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The question of whether those patients who privately purchase treatments which are not available on the National Health Service should, as a consequence, lose entitlement to free care for their condition has proved highly controversial in the United Kingdom. This article considers the debate upon this issue. It focuses in particular upon the degree to which the solution adopted conflicts with the foundational principles of the National Health Service which have recently been enshrined in the NHS Constitution.
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In recent years there has been a renewed interest in presumed consent systems for organ donation. The U. K.'s Organ Donation (Presumed Consent and Safeguards) Bill of 2004 proposed a sweeping change in the law in the form of an opt-out system for the donation of cadaver organs. ⋯ Is it now time to take this controversial issue seriously? If the 2009 Bill provides a window into the future, what practical and ethical difficulties will this new presumed consent legislation impart upon our current organ procurement system? This article will provide an overview of the previous attempts in the U. K. to implement an opt-out system for organ donation, before examining in detail the content of the 2009 Bill as a potential template for a new presumed consent law. Finally, some sweeping amendments to the 2009 Bill will be suggested, and it will be concluded that a new piece of legislation may change our national and international views of organ donation for the better.
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Assisted suicide remains a deeply contested issue in the U. K. Recently three Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bills were introduced in a three year period, all of which failed. ⋯ K. and it is unacceptable that individuals 'suffering unbearably' in their final days have no available domestic alternative. Yet the courts have consistently declined to prosecute in cases where friends and relatives have accompanied terminally ill persons abroad to die, against the provisions of the 1961 Suicide Act s2(1). This article critically assesses recent developments in English law on assisted dying and considers the implications for a more inclusive and reasoned debate in the future.