Anestéziológia a intenzívna medicína 2/2018

Healthcare and a patient who is unable or unable to decide independently

Even in the field of medicine, the individual‘s autonomy is becoming more prominent, recently. So everyone is responsible for his own health. In practice, however, there are situations where healthcare needs to be provided to persons which do not have full legal capacity or, for some reason, they do not have the ability for independent decisions. There are also circumstances where informed consent is not needed. The physician should know this issue to carry out his activity in lege artis approach. Submitted analysis also deals with the two legal institutes that have a place in this field, the living will and the proxy approval.

Keywords: patient‘s autonomy, legal capacity, informed consent, legal act, living will