Patient Autonomy in Ukrainian Law

Abstract

The article discusses the legal institution of patient autonomy in Ukrainian law from the side of a historical and comparative perspective. Being of twofold nature, patient autonomy encompasses both the patient’s right to undergo treatment, surgery and other medical interventions explicitly with a free and informed consent, as well as the patient’s right to forego medical treatment (informed refusal) without being obliged to state a justified reason for it. Albeit Ukrainian legislation is clear in relation to the provision of consent for treatment – both normatively and documentarily, the institute of informed refusal needs certain upgrade, especially in the view of the existing case law. The author also discusses a handful of relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on the subjects, as well as the historical vaults of informed consent and informed refusal, being case law from different states of the world, encompassing the European Union, England, the United States of America, Canada, and Japan. The author hallmarks the necessity of the patients not only to know their respective rights, but also to be able to protect them, which is expressed in the enrichment of the legal culture of the patients. Apart from the above-mentioned statements, the author makes a statement that medical malpractice lawsuits in Ukrainian courts have become far more frequent than they used to be a decade ago.