Medical Rehabilitation Through the Prism of Legally Approved Definitions

Abstract

As part of an analytical review of federal law “On the basics of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”, an attempt was made to distinguish the conceptual independence of medical rehabilitation among categories such as medical care and treatment. The analysis showed that the definition of “treatment” indicates the same goal as for the hierarchically higher category “medical care”. For this reason, the definition of treatment meets the goal of another hierarchically equal category of “medical rehabilitation”. The absence of an ideological difference between the concepts of “treatment” and “medical rehabilitation” raises doubts about the independence of the latter term. The approved definitions of other hierarchically equal categories “prevention”, “diagnostics”, “medical rehabilitation” have their own independent target orientation, cascading with the purpose of providing medical care. Due to the identity of “treatment” and “medical rehabilitation” terms it is impossible to divide them according to objects or methods of exposure. Within the framework of the fixed concepts, treatment and rehabilitation impacts the same objects: structures, functions, and categories of life. There are no differences in the methods of exposure during treatment and medical rehabilitation, i.e. between medical interventions and interventions of a medico-psychological nature, whereas the current definition of “medical intervention” includes manipulations performed by a nonmedical professional, concerning persons’ physical or mental state of and having a rehabilitation orientation. Dividing the concepts of “treatment” and “medical rehabilitation” by subjects responsible for achieving the goal is not enough to distinguish the category of “treatment”. The independence of this category could be emphasized by narrowing the definition of treatment, defining its purpose solely as “elimination or relief of the disease or condition manifestations”. Such a concept meets the boundaries of medical care goal, but refers only to its part, it has its own hierarchy level in the medical care compounds, but it does not occupy the area of “medical rehabilitation” and other hierarchically equal categories.