Godność pacjenta
Patient Dignity

Summary/Abstract: The objective of the paper is to indicate the importance of patient dignity. It is highlighted that this no-tion has to be deemed disputable and controversial as it has not been legally defined. Hence the nu-merous doubts concerning the responsibilities ofmedical practitioners and health service personnel.The paper discusses patient dignity fromthe perspective of regulations contained in internationallaw, in the Polish Constitution, the Act on the Professions of Physician and Dentist, as well as theCode ofMedical Ethics. The decisions of the EuropeanCourt ofHumanRights are also referred to.As evidenced by the regulations referred to in the paper and the approach taken by the ECHRa patient has quite an extensive range of rights intended to protect his dignity. However, given theincreasing use of technology in medical procedures as well as on account of numerous imperfec-tions in the health service these rights are frequently neglected. More and more frequently medi-cal practitioners no longer see their patient as a human being, but as a broken organism, or evena mechanism which the former needs to fix. This situation will only change provided that theworking conditions of medical practitioners change and their mentality is transformed. Thisshould be mainly ensured by the efforts of the medical self-government.

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