Search results

The purpose of this paper is to determine what written information is given to informally admitted patients in England and Wales regarding their legal rights in relation to freedom of movement and treatment.

Information leaflets were obtained by a search of all National Health Service mental health trust websites in England and health boards in Wales and via a Freedom of Information Act 2000 request. Data were analysed using content analysis.

Of the 61 organisations providing inpatient care, 27 provided written information in the form of a leaflet. Six provided public access to the information leaflets via their website prior to admission. Although the majority of leaflets were accurate the breadth and depth of the information varied considerably. Despite a common legal background there was confusion and inconsistency in the use of the terms informal and voluntary as well as inconsistency regarding freedom of movement, the right to refuse treatment and discharge against medical advice.

The research has demonstrated the value of Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests in obtaining data. Further research should explore the effectiveness of informing patients of their rights from their perspective.

Work should be undertaken to establish a consensus of good practice in this area. Information should be consistent, accurate and understandable.

This is the only research reporting on the availability and content of written information given to informal patients about their legal rights.

The purpose of this study is to explore the presence of ethical standards in the content of international hospitals codes of ethics disclosed in their websites.

Firstly, the focus is on developing an integrated framework of universal values and hospital responsibilities for the content of hospitals’ codes of ethics documents. A list of key ethical issues was determined through an examination of the American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics (2016), the WAMA (2017), International Code of Medical Ethics and relevant peer-reviewed journal articles (Finseschi, 1997; Vergallo, 2016; Suhonen et al., 2011; Reader et al., 2014). Based on the detailed literature review, 48 concepts, which were evenly, classified under two groups; professional conduct issues and patients’ rights. In the second stage, the issues were ranked related to professional conduct and patients’ rights from most to least frequent for the proposed conceptual framework, using World Global Hospitals codes of ethics.

It was found that only 62% of the top 100 hospitals have an ethics code report in their websites. The findings of the study have significant theoretical and practical implications. First, most of the hospitals’ ethical codes extensively emphasize professional conduct and patients’ rights, whereas they differ in what they include or exclude from their codes and the wording used. The number and frequency of the professional conduct issues is higher than patients’ rights. Emerging ethical issues, such as physicians’ and patients’ freedom of choice, sperm donation and artificial reproduction, were not widely mentioned, whereas abortion, euthanasia, human rights and transplantation issues were disregarded entirely.

This study provides a benchmark for hospitals to assess their codes against other hospitals’ codes in terms of the specific items they address.

The results of this study provide a benchmark for evaluating and developing ethical codes for hospitals in light of the international health standards and norms.

To the best of the knowledge, no previous study has theoretically or practically analyzed hospitals’ codes of ethics.

There is no documented evidence on service users’ perceptions of quality of care and observance of human rights in mental health residential facilities in Egypt after the new mental health law passed in 2009. The purpose of this paper is to investigate El-Abbassia Mental Health Hospital in Cairo. Special attention is paid as to the variety of human rights violations which are experienced by the users and the context in which these violations occur.

A cross-sectional study was performed relying on 36 depth interviews with patients, 58 staff members and 15 family members, reviews of documents and observations by an independent assessment team consisting of the author, another psychiatrist, a nurse and a family member using the World Health Organization Quality Rights Tool Kit which uses the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as its framework.

The study reported empirical insights into how the steps taken by the hospital to address several of the themes drawn from the CRPD require either improvement or initiation to comply fully with the convention’s themes.

Respondents may have failed to disclose their true experiences due to fear of punishment.

Users admitted to mental hospitals have often been forgotten, thus becoming victims of violence, neglect and other human rights violations.

An opportunity to promote public awareness of the rights of patients.

The importance of this study came from being the first documented evidence on service users’ perceptions of quality of care and observance of human rights in mental health residential facilities in Egypt after the new mental health law passed in 2009.

This chapter problematizes the body politics of American liberalism, as viewed through the lens of health policy. The author suggests that American efforts to pursue basic health goals are undercut by the particular way in which American liberals – and their state – conceptualize bodies. To understand the theoretical basis of this body politics, the chapter examines policy preoccupations such as the institution of informed consent, malpractice reform, and efforts to establish a Patients’ Bill of Rights. Finally, considering the ideological contexts that have given rise to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the author gestures toward the establishment of a stronger liberal – and possibly post-liberal – health care system that takes the embodiment of its subjects seriously.

The purpose of this paper is to report on current developments in user involvement in healthcare in Slovenia and to explore the issue from the macro-, mezzo- and micro-levels.

User involvement is first contextualised within history of the organisation of healthcare system, from its socialist past through to its post-transitional developments. Second, user involvement is tracked through an analysis of healthcare policies and legislation as well as at its institutional and organisational levels. Finally, user involvement practices are illustrated from the perspective of individual patients. A descriptive and exploratory case study design was employed, including a literature review, document analysis and qualitative thematic analysis of nine in-depth and four semi-structured interviews.

The findings reveal a complex and at times ambivalent picture in which user involvement is still not firmly embedded into the healthcare system, despite being generally accepted.

No systematic qualitative research of patient involvement in Slovenia has previously been published. This research will establish a basis for further investigations of the topic.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight that the lack of a specific right to a medical translator under International Law can be considered an outlier when viewed within the context of the copious legislation regarding translation in general. Given the lack of specific legislation guaranteeing the right to a medical translator under International Law, the paper further aims to highlight the resulting effects on medical providers and patients.

The paper opted for a detailed historical legal analysis regarding the history of translation under International Law in general, as well as specific international, intranational, and regional legislation regarding the right to a translator in medical settings. The data were complemented by a thorough review of documentary analysis of existing scholarship, detailing the experiences of medical providers and patients.

The paper provides insights as to how international legislators have traditionally viewed medical translation: whether as a matter of international relations, access to care, discrimination, or as a fundamental part of the Right to Health. The paper finds that differing views on the subject have result in nations, regions, and medical providers having great discretion in deciding which patients are provided with a translator. The paper finds that such decisions are often made on a basis other than that of patient health.

Because the provisioning of translators in medical settings currently inevitably falls to a nation or single institution, research into which patients receive a translator and why lacks generalizability (because empirical data are not available for every region of the world). Researchers in future are encouraged to further develop the empirical evidence found in their regions with a more quantitative approach, documenting the non-provisioning of translators in their areas and categorizing the motives behind the decisions of medical providers in a given area.

The paper includes implications for patients who have suffered adverse events after miscommunication (or lack of communication) with their medical providers. The paper aims to investigate in what venue may they seek legal remedy, and on what grounds. The paper also has implications for national and regional governments. Given the lack of binding International Law regarding medical translation, national and regional governments attempt to guarantee the provisioning of translators to some patients and not others. Such decisions may become political and have unintended consequences for medical providers and patients alike.

The paper includes implications for international legislators and national legislators. The paper also includes implications for medical providers and patients, as language barriers are becoming a more common feature in medical facilities around the world due to globalization and migration. The rate of patients suffering adverse events after not being provided with a competent medical interpreter is bound to rise.

This paper fulfills a need to examine medical translation in the context of other types of translation under International Law. This paper fulfills a need to study how the lack of specific International Legislation guaranteeing the right to medical translation has implications for national/regional legislators, medical providers, and patients alike. This paper fulfills a need to discuss the legal remedies available to patients who have suffered adverse medical events after not being able to communicate with their medical provider.

Reports on research carried out in 1997/98 which used four different methods in a staged process: literature review, in‐depth interviews, a postal questionnaire and focus groups in acute and primary care. There was a surprising level of agreement between patients, carers and NHS staff about what was wrong with the existing charter and about what a new charter should contain. Patients knew very little about the contents of the Charter. NHS staff were much more knowledgeable and much more critical of its impact on them and NHS services. The overall view was that it had been of limited usefulness. Although there were differences in emphasis, there was almost unanimous agreement about what a new charter should contain: it should be based on the principles of openness, accountability and equity; there should be a much stronger focus on primary and community health care; there should be clearer statements about patients’ rights of access to services; standards which focus on clinical need, effectiveness and health outcomes; and standards for better communication and information in a usable form. A new charter should emphasis the rights and responsibilities of patients and staff. Most important of all, patients and staff should be involved in the development of a new charter so that it will reflect their views.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the appropriate legal balance and framework whereby issues of health care, patient access and rights of conscience can be best accommodated.

A review of existing case law, statutes and conscience clauses as applied to the philosophical debate surrounding conscience in health care.

Freedom of conscience is strongly anchored in British law and policy. Practice within the health care industry, however, has been slow and resistant to rights of conscience. Respecting the right of health care workers to exercise that right, benefits the health care industry at large, and patients themselves.

This debate, particularly since the so-called “Scottish mid-wives case” and the recent General Pharmaceutical Council consultation on religion and personal values, has come to the forefront of bio-ethical discourse in recent months. As such, this treatment provides a valuable legal tool to answering the various positions involved in the debate.

Discrimination against the elderly people is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon. Despite the obvious fact of the aging of societies, everlasting youth, fitness, and thus usefulness of a person are promoted. Discrimination also extends to the field of healthcare. It can be concluded that a sick and weak person is more exposed to it. Manifestations of such behaviors are regulations that do not give equal rights to all age groups and limit access to selected services for the elderly people. Such actions also include the attitudes of the medical staff, which, often imbued with stereotypes about old age, approaches the elderly patient with disregard.

The aim of this chapter is to show the problem of discrimination against elderly patients in the Polish healthcare system, and to indicate possible measures to improve the situation of such people. An attempt will also be made to answer the question about the causes of discriminatory behavior. On the one hand, it is connected with the attitude of the medical personnel, who often treat such patients with superiority. On the other hand, the cause of limited access to some treatments and medical procedures are systemic solutions. Systemic solutions cause that such patients have limited access to some treatments and medical procedures. It is important to consider how these two issues are related. Do social attitudes, stereotypes, influence regulations, or regulations limiting the rights of the elderly cause a change in the reactions of medical staff? To answer this question, an appropriate solution can be proposed. Should the actions fighting discrimination be actions aimed at changing legal regulations or should the burden be shifted to education and social campaigns?

Formal recognition of the human rights of people living with mental health problems has greatly progressed. We must ask ourselves, however, to what extent the formal recognition of these rights has transformed the culture of psychiatric care and improved their quality of life. Gaining Autonomy & Medication Management (GAM) is an approach that strives to empower service users and providers and promotes the exercise of users’ rights by transforming their relationship with the central component of psychiatric treatment in community services: psychopharmacology. The purpose of this paper is to show how GAM highlights the issues surrounding the establishment of a culture of rights.

For this analysis qualitative data were collected in Brazil and in Quebec, Canada, through over 100 interviews done with people living with mental health issues and practitioners who participated in the different GAM implementation projects.

Issues, challenges and obstacles facing the instauration of a human rights culture in mental health services are presented. The profound changes that the understanding and exercise of users’ rights bring to the lives of individuals are supported by excerpts illustrating recurring issues, situations and common experiences that appear in the various contexts of the two different countries.

This is not a parallel study taking place into two countries. The methodologies used were different, and as a consequence the comparative power can be limited. However, the results reveal striking similarities.

There is scant research on human rights in mental health services in the community, and the issues surrounding the prescribing and follow-up of pharmacological treatment. The joint analysis of the researches in Brazil and in Canada, identified common challenges which are intertwined with the dominant approach of biomedical psychiatry.