title: Finding a balance between patients' rights, responsibilities and obligations.
abstract: Patients' rights have developed over recent decades in many countries, resulting in improved access to high quality medical care. The alliance between patients and physicians is a moral obligation, backed up by patient rights. Poor patient compliance with medical recommendations constitutes a public health issue, illustrating the difficulty of obliging patients to comply with treatment. The legal recognition of patients' responsibilities is defined in a few legislative and regulatory texts, but is primarily based on jurisprudence. Patients, who despite being fully aware and informed about the risks adopt a behaviour that is harmful to their health, tend to be considered as being irresponsible. This judicial approach raises a number of questions, as it fails to take into account the complexity of the human factors involved in a behaviour with either positive or negative health effects.
authors: Health Care Teaching and Practices Laboratory, UPRES EA 3412, Université Paris, Bobigny, France. gignon.maxime@chu-amiens.fr
authors: Maxime
authors: M
authors: Gignon
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Ganry
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Jardé
authors: Cécile
authors: C
authors: Manaouil
mesh_terms: D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D028701:Patient Rights; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations