Constitutional and Humanitarian Guarantees of the Patient, Subject to Procedures Assimilated to Detention in the Context of Epidemic Prevention
Constitutional and Humanitarian Guarantees of the Patient, Subject to Procedures Assimilated to Detention in the Context of Epidemic Prevention

Author(s): Alina Zaharia
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, EU-Legislation
Published by: Scientia Moralitas Research Institute
Keywords: patients' rights; compulsory hospitalization; unconstitutionality; freedom restrictions; contagious diseases;
Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to analyze the patient's rights in relation to the epidemiological evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Romania, balancing the humanitarian principles by which the detention of an individual for health reasons, must be carried out in the least restrictive manner and the legislative evolution that regulates in Romania the action of the invested authorities with taking the indispensable measures to reduce the risk of infection. To this end, the study proposes to debate the protective foundations underlying the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights regarding patients' rights in relation to coercive measures aimed at public health issues, foundations that are supported in the recent jurisprudence of the Romanian Constitutional Court, invested in solving problems regarding the unconstitutionality of the measures adopted by the authorities in reaction to the epidemiological evolution. In this sense, is developed the hypothesis according to which the compulsory hospitalization, considered as a form of detention, must be a last resort solution. In this context, the present study is of increasing importance in relation to the legislative uncertainties found both nationally and in the European regulatory environment, the methods used consisting in conducting qualitative analyzes of the national and international regulatory framework and of the jurisprudence found in constitutional but also humanitarian forums, leading to the prescription according to which democratic states are required to provide protective guarantees to their citizens, who must be protected from interference with the rights to liberty and privacy, when are subject to medical procedures assimilated to detention.

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