LEGAL MECHANISMS OF PATIENT’S RIGHTS PROTECTION

Abstract

Introduction: Human life and health are considered to be of the highest social value, with particular emphasis on health care. However, the patient's rights are pretty often violated by medical professionals. According to statistics, a medical error is recognized as one of the most common causes of patient's rights violations in Europe and the United States. That's why the research of jurisdictional mechanisms of patients' rights protection in the context of medical error, seems particularly relevant. The aim: To propose the effective jurisdictional mechanisms of the patients' rights affected by medical error protection and to summarize scientific approaches for understanding the essence of medical error. Materials and methods: The research used a set of general scientific and special methods of scientific cognition, in particular, dialectical; comparative legal; analysis and synthesis; formal-logical (dogmatic); statistical and generalization. The empirical base of the study is the statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine within 2014-2018, generalization of the practice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, as well as statistics in the field of protection of patients' rights of some countries of Europe, USA and Japan, as well as the authors' own experience who serve as a judge and a judge assistant of the Supreme Court, a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Results: It is argued that the most effective jurisdictional mechanisms for protecting the patients' rights affected by a medical error include: criminal, civil and constitutional ones. Summarizing national and foreign positions of scholars and practitioners, four main approaches to the interpretation of the "medical error" concept are highlighted. Conclusions: In order to protect the patients' rights adequately, including those affected by a medical error, the state must guarantee the right of access to jurisdictional protection mechanisms, as well as establish a system of non-jurisdictional mechanisms for the protection of health rights.