Case STS 25-6-2009
Country: SpainYear: 2009
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: No. 3404/2008
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Health systems and financing, Hospitals, Informed consent
Human Rights: Freedom of religion, Right to health
Mr. Domingo was involved in an accident where he fractured his right femur. The Hospital of Bellvitge, where he was admitted, required patients to consent to a blood transfusion due to the risk of hemorrhage during surgery. Mr. Domingo refused a possible blood transfusion due to his religious beliefs as a Jehovah’s witness. Therefore, Mr. …Read more
In the Matter of an Application by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children for Judicial Review
Country: United KingdomYear: 2009
Court: High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland, Queen's Bench Division
Citation: [2009] NIQB 92
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Health information, Informed consent, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to life
The law applicable to abortion and medically induced miscarriages in Northern Ireland was a 19th century law (the Offences against the Person Act 1861), which made it a crime to procure a miscarriage. Courts had interpreted this principle to decide that if a person who procured the abortion acted in good faith for the purpose …Read more
K.H. and Others v. Slovakia
Country: SlovakiaYear: 2009
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: App. No. 32881/04, 49 Eur. Ct. H.R. 34 (2009).
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Health information, Health systems and financing, Hospitals, Informed consent, Medical malpractice, Poverty, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right of access to information, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to family life
The eight applicants were women of Roma ethnicity, who suspected that they had been sterilized during caesarian section deliveries at two different hospitals. The applicants obtained legal representation, who attempted to examine and obtain copies of their medical records. These requests were denied by the hospitals. The applicants then brought actions against the hospitals in …Read more
Kracke v. Mental Health Review Board & Anor (No. 2) (General)
Country: AustraliaYear: 2009
Court: Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Citation: [2009] VCAT 1548
Health Topics: Informed consent, Mental health
Human Rights: Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Freedom of movement and residence, Right to bodily integrity, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to privacy
The petitioner, Kracke, was mentally ill and was being subjected to medical treatment without his consent. He was required to take drugs with adverse side effects and had been trying unsuccessfully to convince the medical authorities to let him stop taking them. The drugs were being administered under treatment orders issued pursuant to the Mental …Read more
Case 146/2007 and its cumulative 147/2007
Country: MexicoYear: 2008
Court: Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación [Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation]
Citation: Acción de Inconstitucionalidad 146/2007 y su acumulada 147/2007
Health Topics: Child and adolescent health, Health care and health services, Informed consent, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Right to bodily integrity, Right to family life, Right to health, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to life
Please note that only portions of the original judgment have been translated into English. This summary is primarily written from those portions. The Federal District legislature approved reforms to the Criminal Code of the Federal District in which it decriminalized and legalized abortion performed during the first 12 weeks of gestation. It also amended the …Read more
I.V. v. Bolivia (Admissibility)
Country: BoliviaYear: 2008
Court: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Citation: Report No. 40/08, Petition 270-07, July 23, 2008; OEA/Ser.L/V/II.134, Doc. 5, rev. 1, 25 February 2009
Health Topics: Informed consent, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Freedom of expression, Right to bodily integrity, Right to due process/fair trial, Right to family life, Right to liberty and security of person, Right to privacy
In 2000, the Ombudsman of Bolivia, on behalf of the victim, lodged a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that victim was submitted to a surgical procedure of ligature of the fallopian tubes in a public hospital without her informed consent and this was therefore an involuntary sterilization. The Ombudsman further alleged …Read more
Paxton v. Ramji
Country: CanadaYear: 2008
Court: Ontario Court of Appeal
Citation: 2008 ONCA 697, 92 OR (3d) 401
Health Topics: Disabilities, Health care and health services, Health information, Hospitals, Medical malpractice, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right of access to information, Right to bodily integrity
This appeal concerns whether a doctor owes a tort law duty of care to a future child subsequently born of the doctor’s patient. Dr. Ramji prescribed Accutane to Dawn Paxton, mother of the plaintiff, Jamie Paxton, on the understanding that Dawn would not become pregnant while taking the drug. Due to her husband’s failed vasectomy, …Read more
Shelley v. United Kingdom
Country: United KingdomYear: 2008
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 23800/06; [2008] ECHR 108; (2008) 46 EHRR SE16
Health Topics: Controlled substances, Health care and health services, Health systems and financing, HIV/AIDS, Infectious diseases, Informed consent, Prisons
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to life, Right to privacy
The applicant was a United Kingdom national imprisoned at H.M. Prison Whitemoor who complained that the Government’s failure to provide needle exchange programs in prisons violated the rights of prisoners under Article 2 (respect for the right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 8 (respect for …Read more
E.B. v. X
Country: ItalyYear: 2007
Court: Supreme Court of Cassation
Citation: Case No. 21748/2007 of 16 October 2007
Health Topics: Diet and nutrition, Disabilities, Informed consent, Mental health
Human Rights: Right to bodily integrity, Right to health, Right to life, Right to privacy
E.E., an adult, was in a car accident in 1992. As a result of this accident, she entered into an irreversible vegetative coma. E.E. was not clinically dead, defined as the “irreversible cessation of all encephalon functions,” but was clinically in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). She was kept alive through force-feeding by means of …Read more
Kutaisi Regional Blood Bank v. Lamira Chaladze
Country: GeorgiaYear: 2007
Court: Cassation Court
Citation: Case No. as-296-624-07
Health Topics: Health information, HIV/AIDS, Informed consent, Medical malpractice, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right of access to information, Right to life
While giving birth to her second son, the Respondent lost a large amount of blood and needed a blood transfusion. Her relatives bought erythrocyte mass and karyoplasms from the Kutaisi Regional Blood Bank. After the transfusion, the Respondent and her son became sick and doctors ultimately concluded that the Respondent and her son was HIV …Read more