CYIL vol. 16 (2025)

CYIL 16 (2025) PROTECTION OF PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE PATIENTS IN TELEMEDICINE Article 23 focuses on children with disabilities, which for our purposes constitute another characteristic feature increasing vulnerability with respect to telemedicine. Special needs of a disabled child are recognised and effective access to, inter alia , health care services should be ensured. Article 24 of the Convention sets out the right of any children to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. Specific measures for the actual implementation of these rights are left mostly to the discretion of the national governments, but they should be appropriate and aim at the objectives stated in Article 24(2) of the Convention. There is no similar international treaty with respect to the elderly yet, 29 but there is one regarding persons with disabilities: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 30 It strives to promote the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, particularly by allowing them to effectively enjoy the possibilities which are normally available to everyone else. For these purposes, the notion of persons with disabilities is defined broadly to include those “who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others” . This definition is quite fitting with respect to the challenges these persons face as patients, particularly in the remote health care setting. Two provisions of the Convention should be expressly mentioned in this context. Article 9 obligates the states that are parties to the Convention to take appropriate measures to ensure equal access of persons with disabilities to facilities and services provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. This includes medical facilities and services and is directly relevant for telemedicine, as the Convention expressly mentions access to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet. Article 25 of the Convention acknowledges the right to the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. Among other principles, it requires that persons with disabilities be provided with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as are provided to other persons. These health services should be provided as close as possible to their own communities, including in rural areas. Turning now to the Convention on Biomedicine, 31 which is for obvious reasons markedly relevant for health services, 32 we may notice that neither the Convention, nor its Additional Slovak Federative Republic, to which the Czech Republic is a legal successor, ratified the Convention; it was published in the Collection of Laws under no. 104/1991 Coll. 29 But discussions about a new treaty dealing specifically with the rights of older people have already started; cf. UN: Treaty on Older People’s Rights Moves Ahead , available at . 30 The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on 13 December 2006. The Czech Republic ratified the Convention in 2009; it was published in the Collection of International Treaties under no. 10/2010 Coll. Int. Tr. 31 The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, adopted on 4 April 1997. The Czech Republic ratified the Convention in 2001; it was published in the Collection of International Treaties under no. 96/2001 Coll. Int. Tr. 32 Not just because of its subject-matter, but in the Czech legal order also because of direct applicability of at least some of the provisions. For a more detailed discussion cf. HOLČAPEK, Tomáš. Convention on Biomedicine and Liability Resulting from Deficiency in Informed Consent. In ŠTURMA, Pavel et al. Czech Yearbook of International Public & Private Law. Vol. 9. Praha: Česká společnost pro mezinárodní právo / Czech Society of International Law, 2018, pp. 270–279.

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