JUDICIAL ACTIVISM ON PATIENT RIGHTS PROTECTION

Authors – Aranya Nath, Doctoral Research Scholar Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University Visakhapatnam & Antara Paral, Student of IFIM Law School Bangalore affiliated to Karnataka State Law University Hubli.

Best Citation – Aranya Nath & Antara Paral, JUDICIAL ACTIVISM ON PATIENT RIGHTS PROTECTION, Indian Journal of Legal Review (IJLR), 3 (1) of 2023, Pg. 678-689, ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

A patient is any person who receives healthcare services and needs medical treatment from medical providers such as physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and so on. A patient may be well or sick when obtaining healthcare treatments. In general, when a patient or family member enters a hospital or other medical facility, they are in a physically and psychologically weaker condition and so take the word of the medical provider as final and for granted. With the commercialization and privatization of the healthcare business, patients are frequently put at the receiving end of medical malpractices by facilitators who take unfair advantage of the patients’ vulnerabilities. Generally, throughout countries, patients’ rights are recognized as an inherent right under the Human Rights Convention or as an inseparable aspect of the fundamental rights of the concerned governments. As a result, patients’ rights would’ve acknowledged as legally valid rights to the extent that they have been embedded in that country’s legal framework. As well as, it may not be the comprehensive legal framework that people may enjoy uncodified because of their status as a citizen and not with the privilege of being patient. Simply codifying and stipulating patients’ rights is not the ultimate solution.

Keywords: Judicial Activism, Patient’s right, Privacy, Constitution, Fundamental Rights, Healthcare