Obveze i odgovornosti pacijenata u hrvatskom pravu

Abstract

When talking about responsibility in health care, first of all, it refers to the responsibility of health care institutions and health care workers, in regards to the harm they have caused their patients through malpractice, as well as to the insurance against liability of health care workers for any mistakes in their work. An equally important area of responsibility is responsibilities of patients for their actions or omissions. In the paper, the author has classified these through four segments: patient responsibility for their health; patient responsibility to other patients; patient responsibility to healthcare professionals; and patient responsibility to the community. Patients’ rights in the Republic of Croatia are regulated by the Law on the Protection of Patients' Rights and the Law on Health Care, in a way, in which they prescribe only the rights of patients and, above all, the obligations and responsibilities of patients. Therefore, house rules of hospitals are the only regulations that systematically regulate patients' obligations and responsibilities, most of all or only those who are hospitalized in stationary healthcare institution.