European Charter of Patient Rights
FOURTEEN RIGHTS OF THE PATIENT
- Right to Preventive Measures
Every individual has the right to a proper service in order to prevent illness. The health services have the duty to raise people’s awareness
- Right of Access
Every individual has the right of access to the health services that his or her health needs require. The health services must guarantee equal access to everyone, without discriminating on the basis of financial resources, place of residence, kind of illness or time of access to services.
- Right of Information
Every individual has the right to access to all kind of information regarding their state of health, the health services and how to use them, and all that scientific research and technological innovation makes available.
- Right to consent
Every individual has the right to access to all information that might enable him or her to actively participate in the decisions regarding his or her health; this information is a prerequisite for any procedure and treatment, including the participation in scientific research.
- Right to Free Choice
Every individual has the right to freely choose from among different treatment procedures and providers on the basis of adequate information.
- Right to Privacy and Confidentiality
Every individual has the right to the confidentiality of personal information, including information regarding his or her state of health and potential diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, as well as the protection of his or her privacy during the performance of diagnostic exams, specialist visits, and medical surgical treatments in general.
- Right to Respect of Patients’ Time
Each individual has the right to receive necessary treatment within a swift and predetermined period of time. This right applies at each phase of treatment.
- Right to the observance of quality standards
Each individual has the right of access to high quality health services on the basis of the specification and observance of precise standards.
- Right to safety
Each individual has the right to be free from harm caused by the poor functioning of health services, medical malpractice and errors, and the right of access to health services and treatments that meet high safety standards.
- Right to innovation
Each individual has the right of access to innovative procedures, including diagnostic procedures, according to international standards and independently of economic or financial considerations.
- Right to avoid unnecessary suffering and pain
Each individual has the right to avoid as much suffering and pain as possible, in each phase of his or her illness.
- Right to personalized treatment
Every individual has the right to diagnostic or therapeutic programs tailored as much as possible to his or her personal needs.
- Right to complain
Every individual has the right to complain whenever when he or she has suffered harm and the right to receive a response or other feedback.
- Right to compensation
Every individual has the right to receive sufficient compensation within a reasonably short time whenever he or she has suffered physical or moral and psychological harm caused by a health service treatment.
RIGHTS OF ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP*
- Right to perform general interest activities
Citizens, whether individuals or members of an association, have the right, rooted in the principle of subsidiary, to perform general interest activities for the protection of health care rights; there is a concomitant duty on the part of the authorities and all relevant actors to favor and encourage such activity.
- Right to perform advocacy activities
Citizens have the right to perform activities for the protection of rights in the area of health care, and in particular:
- The right to the free circulation of persons and information in public and private health services, within the bounds of respect for privacy rights
- The right to carry out auditing and verification activities in order to measure the effective respect for the rights of citizens in the health care system
- The right to perform activities to prevent violation of rights in the field of health care
- The right to directly intervene in situations of violation or inadequate protection of rights
- The right to submit information and proposal, and the consequent obligation, on the part of the authorities responsible for the administration of public and private health services, to consider them and reply
- The right to public dialogue with public and private health authorities.
- Right to participate in policy making in the area of health
Citizens have the right to participate in the definition, implementation and evaluation of public policies relating to the protection of health care rights, on the basis of the following principles:
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The principle of bilateral communication with regard to agenda setting, or, in other words, the ongoing exchange of information among citizens and institutions in the definition of agenda
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The principle of consultation in the two phases of policy planning and decision, with the obligation on the part of institutions to listen to the proposal of citizens’ organizations, to give feedback on these proposals, to consult them before taking each decision, and to justify their decisions if they differ from the opinions expressed
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The principle of partnership in implementation activities, which means that all partners (citizens, institutions, and other private or corporate partners) are fully responsible and operate with equal dignity
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The principle of shared evaluation, which implies that the outcomes of the activities of the civic organizations ought to be considered as tools for evaluating public policies.
This document is the result of the work of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network Group one of Italy’s best-known civic activities. The ‘European Charter of Patients Rights’ aims to secure an array of rights for all Europeans presented in Brussels 15 November 2002. The Charter is submitted for consideration by civil society, national and EU institutions, and everyone who is able to contribute, by actions and omissions, to the protection or the undermining of these rights. The Charter will be submitted for reviews and will evolve over time.
This section uses the term ‘citizens’ to refer to active persons working in the European Union.
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