Human Rights and Patients’ Privacy in UK Hospitals

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Woogara
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

The European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated into UK domestic law. It gives many rights to patients within the National Health Service (NHS). This article explores the concept of patients’ right to privacy. It stresses that privacy is a basic human right, and that its respect by health professionals is vital for a patient’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. I argue that health professionals can violate patients’ privacy in a variety of ways. For example: the right to enjoy their property; the right to protect their medical and personal information as confidential; the right to expect treatment with dignity during intimate care; and the right to control their personal space and territory. Some preliminary evidence indicates that many health care practitioners, including nurses, are presently unaware of the articles of the Convention and the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998. In order to prevent litigation for breaches of patients’ privacy, it is advocated that universities and other educational institutions, the Government and NHS trusts should help to produce a clear educational strategy and protocols so that students and practitioners are well informed in this field. Although 41 European countries are presently the signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the UK, it is important to stress that the principles discussed in this article are applicable world-wide.

Procedural fairness: Between human rights law and social psychology

2021 ◽  
pp. 092405192199274
Author(s):  
Cathérine Van de Graaf
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Justice Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Fair procedures have long been a topic of great interest for human rights lawyers. Yet, few authors have drawn on research from other disciplines to enrich the discussion. Social psychological procedural justice research has demonstrated in various applications that, besides the final outcome, the manner in which one’s case is handled matters to people as well. Such research has shown the impact of procedural justice on individuals’ well-being, their acceptance of unfavourable decisions, perceptions of legitimacy and public confidence. The ECtHR has confirmed the desirability of these effects in its fair trial jurisprudence. Thus far, it remains unclear to what extent the guarantees offered by Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to a fair trial) coincide with the findings of empirical procedural justice research. This article aims to rectify this and uncover similarities between the two disciplines.

scholarly journals Speed Traps and the Right of Silence

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Kurzon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
European Court ◽  
Statutory Requirement ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Silence

In two English cases which reached the European Court of Human Rights in the mid-2000s, it was argued that the statutory requirement on the part of a motorist who has been caught speeding to give the police information concerning the identity of the driver of the car at the time of the offence is a violation of the right of silence by which a person should not be put into a position that s/he incriminates him/herself. The right of silence is one of the conventional interpretations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As well as a study on the right of silence with regard to written texts, this paper also investigates the two cases in terms of icons and indices: a text may be indexical of a basic human right, and then may become an icon of that right. The European Court of Human Rights considers the particular section of the relevant statute as an icon of the "regulatory regime".

scholarly journals Collective Action Right as a Basic Human Right

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (s2) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Pir Ali Kaya ◽  
Ceyhun Güler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Resistance Mechanism ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Political Field ◽  
European Court ◽  
Social Interests ◽  
The Right

Abstract According to The European Social Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights, the ILO Conventions, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the decisions of the European Social Rights Committee and the ILO supervisory bodies, the right to collective action is a democratic right that aims to protect and correct the economic and social interests of workers in the workplace or in another place appropriate for the purpose of action. The above-mentioned institutions accept the right to collective action as a fundamental human right. According to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the right to collective action is regarded as a democratic right, including strike. In particular, the right to collective action is being used as a resistance mechanism against new working relations, which are imposed on working conditions, right to work and the right to organize. However, the tendency of this right to political field, leads to some debate about the legality of the right to collective action. In this context, In the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the ILO's supervisory bodies and the European Committee on Social Rights, it is emphasized that collective action rights should be a basic human right. In this study, the legal basis of the right to collective action will be discussed in accordance with the decisions and requirements of the European Court of Human Rights and the decisions of the ILO supervisory bodies.

O’Keeffe v. Ireland: overview and analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Gallen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Vicarious Liability ◽  
European Court ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

James Gallen’s chapter reviews the case and the contributions of Adrian Hardiman and Conor O’Mahony to this book. Gallen argues that their discussion reveals the tension between the principle of subsidiarity and the right to effective protection and an effective remedy in the European Convention on Human Rights. The chapter argues that the case of O’Keeffe v Ireland also raises concerns about the European Court of Human Right methodology for the historical application of the Convention and about the interaction of Article 3 positive obligations with vicarious liability in tort. A further section examines the impact of the decision for victims of child sexual abuse and identifies that the decision provides the potential for an alternative remedy to the challenging use of vicarious liability in Irish tort law.

The Right to Stay as a Control Right

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-117
Author(s):  
Valeria Ottonelli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Control Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
Life Plans ◽  
Control Right ◽  
The Right

This chapter sides with those who believe that a right to stay should be counted among fundamental human rights. However, it also acknowledges that there are good reasons for objecting to the most popular justifications of the right to stay, which are based on the assumption that people have valuable ties to their community of residence and that people’s life plans are located where they live. In response to these qualms, this chapter argues that the best way to make sense of the right to stay is to conceive it as belonging to the category of “control rights”; these are the rights that protect people’s control over their own bodies and personal space, which is an essential condition for personhood and human dignity. This account of the right to stay can overcome the most pressing objections to its recognition as a fundamental human right.

14. Privacy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lunney ◽  
Donal Nolan ◽  
Ken Oliphant
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Invasion Of Privacy ◽  
Right Of Privacy ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Right Of Privacy ◽  
The Right

The right of privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998, but English law as yet recognises no tort of invasion of privacy as such. Admittedly, a number of specific torts protect particular aspects of privacy, but this protection may be regarded as haphazard, incidental, and incomplete. Recent decisions, however, have seen substantial developments in the protection given to particular privacy interests, above all by adapting the law of breach of confidence to provide a remedy against the unauthorised disclosure of personal information. These issues are discussed in this chapter.

scholarly journals Freedom of Religion and Freedom from Religion

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
European Court ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
The Right

The right to freedom of religion, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights has been frequently tested, both in UK courts and in the European Court of Human Rights, where successive decisions over a number of years led to the establishment of several well-known principles. However, in recent years religious extremism has brought into focus a tension between the right of freedom of religious expression and the well-being of individuals (not least children) and society. The Strasbourg court requires neutrality on the part of the state and its courts. However, unlike the European Court of Human Rights, the domestic courts have had to face situations where religious observance can be seen to be causing serious harm and where interference in religious freedom and family life has been shown to be justified.

The European Court of Human Rights has the Turkish Security Forces Held Responsible for Violations of Human Rights: The Case of Akdivar and Others

1997 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Zwaak
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Right

In this article, special attention will be given to the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Right in the case of Akdivar and Others v. Turkey. Since 1985, a violent conflict has raged in the South-Eastern region of Turkey, between the Turkish security forces and sections of the Kurdish population in favour of Kurdish autonomy, in particular members of the PKK (Workers' Party of Kurdistan). Since 1987, 10 of the 11 provinces of South-Eastern Turkey have been subjected to emergency rule, which was in force at the time of the facts complained of. The main issue in this case concerned the fact that during this conflict, a large number of villages have been destroyed and evacuated by the security forces. According to the applicants, the alleged burning of their houses by the security forces constituted, inter alia, a violation of Article 3 (the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment or punishment) and Article 8 (the right of respect for private life, family life, and home) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (property rights).

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach to Redistribution: Issues of Policy, Economics and Information

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mark Prebble
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

<p>This thesis considers how best to administer redistribution policies. It focuses particularly on the information needed to assess relative circumstances, the implications of the government collecting such information, and processes by which the appropriate information may be assembled and assessed. In New Zealand, as with many other OECD nations, the Government's redistribution policies are administered through a range of different agencies, with duplication in some areas and gaps in others. An integrated approach to redistribution systems may offer a means to improve equity and efficiency. Part One discusses the assessment of relative well-being, and adopts the choice set as the intellectual device for this purpose. The time period for the assessment of income is examined in detail, with the conclusion that a long period should be used except where the individual is constrained to operate under a short time horizon. A new concept of "bankability" is developed as a means of identifying those operating under such constraints. Part Two uses the philosophical foundations of the value of privacy to develop a new statement of the right to privacy, such that everyone should be protected against the requirement to divulge information, unless that information is the "business" of another party. A view on the business of the state depends on one's ideology of the state. Since it is generally accepted in New Zealand in the late twentieth century that the state has a role in redistribution, the state has some right to collect information for that purpose. However, the rights of the state are moderated by the existence of a common law tradition of respect for individuals. A set of criteria for evaluating redistribution systems is devised in Part Three. These criteria, which include consideration of the information to be collected, individual control over personal information, and administrative simplicity, are then used to identify significant weaknesses in the systems currently used in New Zealand. The main problems identified are the collection of inadequate information, duplication, and complex institutional structures; the main virtue of the current systems is that information provided is only used for the purpose for which it was provided. An alternative approach is outlined which would address the problems while retaining the current protection of privacy interests. This thesis is a mix of inter-disciplinary academic enquiry and policy development. Part One is an amalgam of economic and philosophical approaches, Part Two involves philosophy and politics, and Part Three applies the theoretical considerations to issues of public administration.</p>

scholarly journals Right to abortion in modern law and in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights

2021 ◽  
pp. 159-170
Author(s):  
Majida Lubura
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Safe Abortion ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
European Court ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
The Right

A basic human right - the right to life, even today faces numerous questions when it comes to its scope. One of those questions is the issue of the right to abortion, which is the subject of numerous controversies among lawyers, philosophers, medical workers, theologists, as well as among citizens in the broadest sense. Debates that exist in various scientific disciplines indicate the complexity of these issues that needs to be legally regulated at the domestic and international level. For that reason, it is necessary to follow and study the judgments of international bodies that have been passed in connection with this issue. As the most developed system of Human Rights protection has been established within the European Convention on Human Rights, and at the same time the most relevant for our country, in this paper the author studies the current practice of the European Court of Human Rights related to the right to abortion. It is evident, from the case law presented in this paper that the Court had a very delicate and difficult task to balance between diametrically opposing rights and interests of various interested parties. The Court's judgments show a consensus only regarding the question of the existence of the right to abortion in cases where the right to life and health of women is endangered. Opponents of abortion claim that in this case, it is not the right to abortion, but the right to life of a woman and that only then an abortion is allowed and justified to be performed, as well as that it is a conclusion that can be deduced from the Court's case law. However, the author of this paper believes that even though the practice of the court is quite neutral, it still tends more towards granting the right to safe abortion.

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