Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

The presentation deals with the issue of access of non-citizens to public health-care services in Finland. With this I build on the discussions regarding the equality in access to publicly funded health care services. I depart from overviewing the international law stdandards in the said sphere, including the jurisdprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Then I delve into the practices of implementing these standrards in Finland wjocj guarantees the right to publicly funded health care to everyone who is legally residing within its territory. Hence, I inquire into the fundaments of patient rights in Finland. I review the legal genesis of reconsideration of the status of non-citizens in situations of urgent medical interventions. I overview legal and administrative remedies for patient rights protection in Finland. I also argue for the necessity of the shift in official legal doctrine towards fuller recognition of individual patient rights, and the introduction of instances dealing with these rights such as, e.g. a patient ombudsman and independent national authority supervising health care services in Finland.

Biography

Email: mariya.riekkinen@abo.fi