The common health and social policy in the EU, despite the differences of the
national health systems, is placing the same rights of patients, consumers, users,
family members, weak populations and ordinary people at risk.
As described in the Preamble of the European Charter of Patients’ Rights, “financial
constraints, however justified, cannot legitimize denying or compromising patients'
rights. The Nice Charter of Fundamental Rights will soon be part of the new
European constitution. It is the basis of the declaration of the fourteen concrete
patients' rights currently at risk: the right to preventive measures, access,
information, consent, free choice, privacy and confidentiality, respect of patients'
time, observance of quality standards, safety, innovation, avoidance of unnecessary
suffering and pain and personalized treatment, and the right to complain and to
receive compensation”.
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This Charter aimed at fortifying the introduction of patients’ rights policies and
reinforcing the level of their implementation in different national contexts, can also
be used as a tool for the harmonization of national health systems of both the EU
member-states and aspirants for EU accession, as part of the improvement of the
freedom of movement within the EU and especially the enlargement process.