Resources on Patient Care and Human Rights
A list of commonly used resources on patient care and human rights follows organized according to key topics highlighted within the text.
A. International Instruments
- International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations, Declaration on Patient-Centered Health Care (March 30, 2007). www.patientsorganizations.org/showarticle.pl?id=712;n=312. Available in Spanish.
- UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2004). http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/training8Rev1en.pdf.
- UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (adopted 1955). http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/treatmentprisoners.htm.
- UNESCO General Conference, Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, (October 19, 2005). www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/bioethics/bioethics-and-human-rights/.
- UN General Assembly, Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention, Resolution 43/173 (December 9, 1998). http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/bodyprinciples.htm.
- UN General Assembly, Principles of Medical Ethics Relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, Particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Resolution 37/194 (December 18, 1982). http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/medicalethics.htm.
- World Health Organization, Declaration of Alma-Ata (September 6-12, 1978). www.who.int/publications/almaata_declaration_en.pdf.
- World Medical Association, Declaration of Helsinki—Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (June, 1964). www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html.
- World Medical Association, Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient (September/October, 1981). www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/l4/.
- World Medical Association, Declaration on Medical Care for Refugees (October, 1998). www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/m10/.
- World Medical Association, Regulations in Times of Armed Conflict and other Situations of Violence (October, 1956). www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/a20/.
B. Regional Instruments
- Active Citizen Network, European Charter of Patients’ Rights (2002). www.eesc.europa.eu/self-and-coregulation/documents/codes/private/085-private-act.pdf.
- African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Resolution on Access to Health and Needed Medicines in Africa, ACHPR/Res.141 (XXXXIIIII) 08: (November 2008). www.achpr.org/sessions/44th/resolutions/141/.
- Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (1997). http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/164.htm.
- Council of Europe, Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, C.E.T.S. No. 108 (entered into force January 28, 1981). http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=108&CL=ENG.
- WHO: Regional Office for Europe, A Declaration on the Promotion of Patients’ Rights in Europe (March, 1994). www.who.int/genomics/public/eu_declaration1994.pdf.
C. General Resources
- Active Citizenship Network, Patients’ Rights in Europe: A Citizens’ Report (March 2005). http://archive.oxha.org/knowledge/publications/oxha_dialogue_patient_rights.pdf.
- Beletsky L et al, Advancing human rights in patient care: the law in seven transitional countries (2013). Open Society Foundations. http://iris.lib.neu.edu/slaw_fac_pubs/244/.
- Department of Health and British Institute of Human Rights, Human Rights in Action—A Framework for Local Action (October 7, 2007). www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_088970.
- Fridli J, New Challenges in the Domain of Health Care Decisions, Policy Paper, International Policy Fellowship Program. (2006). http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00003127/.
- Lines R, “The right to health of prisoners in international human rights law,” International Journal of Prisoner Health, 4 No. 1 (March 2008): 3-53. www.ahrn.net/library_upload/uploadfile/file3102.pdf.
- Milevska-Kosova N, Patients’ Rights as a Policy Issue in South Eastern Europe, Policy Paper, International Policy Fellowships (2006). www.policy.hu/news/Milevska-Kostova-PS/22.
- Open Society Institute: Public Health Program, Observance of the Rights of Injecting Drug Users in the Public Health Care System (2008).
- UNESCO, Bioethics Core Curriculum: Casebook on Human Dignity and Human Rights (2011). http://cop.health-rights.org/files/d/1/d1f032879b04e71e9a475d4c7adfaa68.pdf
- No. 1: Casebook on Human Dignity and Human Rights. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001923/192371e.pdf
- No. 2: Casebook on Benefit & Harm. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001923/192370e.pdf
- UNODC, Handbook on Prisoners with special needs (2009). www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Prisoners-with-special-needs.pdf.
D. Health Workers and Human Rights
- Amnesty International, Ethical Codes and Declarations Relevant to Health Professionals: An Amnesty International Compilation of Selected Ethics and Human Rights Texts November 1, 2003). www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT75/005/2000.
- BMA and the Commonwealth Medical Trust, The Right to Health: A toolkit for health professionals (June 2007). http://www.ifhhro.org/our-work/our-publications/353-the-right-to-health-a-toolkit-for-health-professionals-2007.
- Clapham A and Robinson M, eds., Swiss Human Rights Book Vol. 3: Realizing the Right to Health (Zurich, Rüffer & Rub, 2009). http://www.swisshumanrightsbook.com/SHRB/shrb_03.html.
(Open access). - International Council of Nurses, Position Statement: Nurses and Human Rights (2011). www.icn.ch/images/stories/documents/publications/position_statements/E10_Nurses_Human_Rights.pdf.
- International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations, Human Rights for Health Workers (2010). www.ifhhro-training-manual.org/.
- Physicians for Human Rights, Dual Loyalty And Human Rights in Health Professional Practice: Proposed Guidelines and Institutional Mechanisms (March, 2003). http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/reports/dual-loyalty-and-human-rights-2003.html
E. Right to Life
- Yamin A, Parra-Vera O and Gianella C., “Colombia: Judicial protection of the right to health: An elusive promise?” in A. Yamin and S. Gloppen (eds), Litigating health rights: Can courts bring more justice to health? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011).
F. Right to Information
- Erdman JN, “Access to Information on Safe Abortion: A Harm Reduction and Human Rights Approach,” Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 34, (2011): 413-462. www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlg/vol342/413-462.pdf.
- Erer S, Atici E, and Erdemir A, “The Views of Cancer Patients on Patient Rights in the Context of Information and Autonomy,” Journal of Medical Ethics 34, no. 5 (2008): 384-388. http://jme.bmj.com/content/34/5/384.long. (Not open access).
- Lemmens T and Telfer C, “Access to Information and the Right to Health: The Human Rights Case for Clinical Trials Transparency,” American Journal of Law & Medicine 38, no. 1 (2012): 63-112. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1932436. (Not open access).
- Weeramantry CG, “Access to Information: A New Human Right. The Right to Know,” Asian Yearbook of International Law 4 (1994): 99-125.
G. Right to Participate in Public Policy
- Council of Europe, Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Development of Structures for Citizen and Patient Participation in the Decision-Making Process Affecting Health Care, Resolution No. R (2000) 5 (February 24, 2000). http://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=340437&Site=CM.
- De Vos P et al, “Health through people’s empowerment: A rights-based approach to participation,” Health and Human Rights 11, no. 1 (2009). www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/126/201.
- Den Exeter AP, Health Care Law-Making in Central and Eastern Europe: Review of a Legal-Theoretical Model (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2002).
- Yamin AE, “Suffering and Powerlessness: The Significance of Promoting Participation in Rights-Based Approaches to Health,” Health and Human Rights 11, no. 1 (2009): 5-22. www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/127/200.
H. Right to Non-Discrimination and Equality
- Mackintosh M, “Do Health Care Systems Contribute to Inequalities?” in Leon, David, and Walt eds., Poverty, Inequality and Health: An International Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000): 175-193. http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192631961.003.0009.
I. Cross-Border Health in Europe
- Council of the European Union: General Secretariat, Conclusions of the Council on patient mobility and health care developments in the European Union (April 19, 2004). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2004:0301:FIN:EN:PDF
- European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Policy Brief: Cross-border Health Care in Europe (2005). www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/108960/E87922.pdf.
- Glinos I and Baeten R, A Literature Review of Cross-Border Patient Mobility in the European Union (September 2006). www.ose.be/files/publication/health/WP12_lit_review_final.pdf.
- Rich R and Merrick K, Cross Border Health Care in the European Union: Challenges and Opportunities, University of Illinois. Working Paper #133 (October 2006). http://igpa.uillinois.edu/system/files/Rich-MerrickCrossBorderHealthCareinEUChallengesandOpportunities.pdf.
- European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Europe for Patients, Patient Mobility in the European Union: Learning from Experience, Rosenmoller M, McKee M and Baeten R, eds., (2006). www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/98420/Patient_Mobility.pdf.
- Scott P, “Undocumented Migrants in Germany and Britain: the Human “Rights” and “Wrongs” Regarding Access to Health Care,” Electronic Journal of Sociology (2004). www.sociology.org/content/2004/tier2/scott.html.
J. Journals
- British Medical Journal, www.bmj.com.
- Conflict and Health, www.conflictandhealth.com.
- European Journal of Health Law, http://eahl.eu/ejhl.
- Health and Human Rights: An International Journal: http://hhrjournal.org.
- Journal of Medical Ethics: http://jme.bmj.com.
- The Lancet, www.thelancet.com.
K. Websites
- European Public Health Alliance: http://www.epha.org.
- Health Rights, Human Rights in Patient Care: www.health-rights.org/.
- Penal Reform International: Health in Prisons: www.penalreform.org/themes/health-prisons.
- Physicians for Human Rights: physiciansforhumanrights.org/