CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

HELENA VAN BEERSEL KREJČÍKOVÁ CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ treatment the patient for whatever reasons refuses. For that purpose (among others), the right to invoke a conscientious objection by a healthcare worker has been acknowledged, and rightfully, if I may add. However, we also live in the times of defensive medicine when a lot of healthcare workers fear the legal consequences of what could be proclaimed as a medical mistake. Whilst being in a close professional relationship with the Czech Society of Palliative Medicine (including its paediatric section), I have experienced the disadvantages of this highly protective approach, when the life of a patient is being prolonged without any respect to the quality of the life and the will (or the best interest, or dignity) of the patient. Last but not least, there still might be a tiny reminiscence of the old good paternalistic approach which was predominant in the Soviet era when a doctor did not even need to ask the patient what the patient’s will was. 57 All this combined inevitably leads to a healthcare system which vastly priorities the protection of the physical wellbeing of a patient over the protection of the inner integrity, especially when it comes to minor patients. Czech law makes it clear that the minors’ life, health, and access healthcare deserves the greatest protection and shall not as a rule be imperilled by decisions based on the cultural and religious background of the family.

57 The former Act No. 20/1966 Sb., on the Care of the Health of the People, S. 23 Para 2: Examination and treatment are performed with the patient’s consent or if this consent can be expected . The Act has been replaced by the Act on Healthcare Services in 2012.

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