The Silent Revolution in EU Health Law and Policy

The first chapter outlines that most national health laws assume a special connection between health law and policy and fundamental rights and values. The denial or approval of authorization of a specific controversial medication, or the payment for health care in a Member State other than the home state of insurance—and many of the other questions and issues that are addressed in the EU with regard to human health—illustrate that the involvement of the EU in human health can also involve controversial questions, where fundamental rights, bioethical issues, regulatory problems, and redistributive choices may intertwine. This calls into question the power the EU has in this regard, particularly if we take into consideration that human health law and policy are often seen in light of a special reciprocal relationship with fundamental rights and values. Infringements of fundamental rights can harm human health, for instance in cases of torture, or discrimination against people with a particular disease such as HIV/AIDS or mental disorders. At the same time health policy can affect fundamental rights, such as when obligatory vaccination programmes or quarantines are ordered. Hence fundamental rights and values form a benchmark for analysing the legitimacy of health policy. The specific values and rights that are internal to health law set the agenda for this book.