Limited access to or negligence in medical care may lead to the loss of a person’s life. The State must adopt appropriate measures for the protection of patients’ health and thus their lives as well.
Everyone’s life should be protected by law. In the context of health care, this means that the State has a positive obligation to adopt appropriate measures for the protection of patients’ health and thus their lives as well.
The relationship between the right to health and the right to life should not be misunderstood: the State is not required to (and realistically cannot) guarantee that no person will die from an infection, disease or other condition.
The State, however, is obliged to ensure that a person’s health and life are protected by:
- setting up a health care system to guarantee a basic level of medical assistance to everyone
- ensuring the State-paid medical assistance minimum
- regulating and supervising the work of hospitals and other medical institutions
- securing high professional standards for medical personnel
- investigating cases of alleged medical negligence, etc.
example A doctor’s refusal to perform urgent appendicitis surgery on a person because they are unable to pay medical fees may qualify as a violation of the person’s right to life in the context of health care.
example A doctor’s medical error, resulting in the less effective medical treatment of a patient, which does not lead to the loss of the person’s life, is, therefore, not a violation of the person’s right to life in the context of health care. It may, however, qualify as a violation of a person’s right to health.
example If State authorities fail to effectively investigate an allegation of medical negligence (such as a wrong diagnosis and the subsequent treatment or a mistake in surgery), it may be treated as a violation of the person’s right to life in the context of health care.
Read more about the right to life in this Guide.