Health Systems in Transition - Portugal

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Health systems in transition Portugal 43
2.5.3 Patient rights
A Patient Charter (Carta dos Direitos e Deveres dos Doentes) from 1997
provided for the official protection of patients in the NHS. The Charter
brought together the main legal aspects concerning patients’ rights and
obligations. The focus on the patient is the distinctive feature of this Charter,
which highlights:
• the right of the patient to be respected for human dignity, as well as
for cultural, philosophical and religious beliefs;
• the right of the patient to be informed of her/his health status and to
a second opinion;
• the right of the patient to accept or refuse any procedure, either for
treatment, research or teaching purposes;
• the right of the patient to the privacy of her/his own records, and access
to the clinical data regarding her/his treatment and clinical history;
• the patient’s responsibility to look after her/his own health status, and to
provide all necessary information to health care personnel in order to be
provided with the most appropriate treatment;
• the patient’s obligation to follow all the health care delivery system’s rules;
• the patient’s duty to actively avoid any unnecessary expense under the
NHS.
There have not been any studies assessing the effectiveness of the Charter’s
implementation or its impact. The right to health protection is inscribed in
the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (1976) and is based on a set of
fundamental values such as human dignity, equity, ethics and solidarity.
Law No. 15/2014, of 21 March 2014, assembles, in a single diploma, all
scattered legislation on rights and duties of health care users, the right to be
accompanied, and the Charter of Rights for Access to Healthcare of the NHS
Users (see Chapter 5). This Charter defines the maximum waiting times for
access to health care; it is updated annually and published in the Ministry’s
website and at all NHS facilities. However, these documents have not had a
significant practical relevance until now. Also, Law No. 52/2014, of 25 August
2014, regulates the access to cross-border health care in any EU country (see
section 2.5.4).