Abstract
It would often be in the public interest for persons with special knowledge, including the so-called liberal professionals, to exercise their skills voluntarily, as long as a need for their services arises: for example, a healthcare practitioner
would provide treatment to anyone in need of emergency care, architects would act as soon as there is a mention of
a crack in the load-bearing wall of an apartment building and judges would judge a court on holidays if need arises.
But the legal duty to act can be demanded from those who are legally assigned this task only. For all the stakeholders,
legal certainty in healthcare is an issue of major importance. To contribute to this aspect, this study aims to detect the
legal and ethical framework of the medical practitioner’s obligation to provide treatment outside of working hours. The
scientific literature, case-law, legal acts and court judgements were studied; the analytic, doctrinal, comparative and
modelling methods were applied; the general legal norm interpretation methods were used. The authors conclude that
outside of working hours, medical practitioners are exempt from their legal responsibilities, are guided by moral norms
and general citizens’ obligations only and have the right to refuse to provide professional healthcare services. The
inconsistency among legal scholars and legal and medical practitioners concerning the duties of healthcare professionals during their rest time was detected. The recommendations are proposed to ensure legal certainty and achieve
consentaneity among the stakeholders.
would provide treatment to anyone in need of emergency care, architects would act as soon as there is a mention of
a crack in the load-bearing wall of an apartment building and judges would judge a court on holidays if need arises.
But the legal duty to act can be demanded from those who are legally assigned this task only. For all the stakeholders,
legal certainty in healthcare is an issue of major importance. To contribute to this aspect, this study aims to detect the
legal and ethical framework of the medical practitioner’s obligation to provide treatment outside of working hours. The
scientific literature, case-law, legal acts and court judgements were studied; the analytic, doctrinal, comparative and
modelling methods were applied; the general legal norm interpretation methods were used. The authors conclude that
outside of working hours, medical practitioners are exempt from their legal responsibilities, are guided by moral norms
and general citizens’ obligations only and have the right to refuse to provide professional healthcare services. The
inconsistency among legal scholars and legal and medical practitioners concerning the duties of healthcare professionals during their rest time was detected. The recommendations are proposed to ensure legal certainty and achieve
consentaneity among the stakeholders.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 18-23 |
Journal | Socrates |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2023 |
Keywords*
- medical practitioners’ rights and duties
- healthcare
- soft law
- legal certainty
- work ethics
- labour rights
- working time
- rest breaks
Field of Science*
- 5.5 Law
Publication Type*
- 1.2. Scientific article included in INT1 or INT2 category journal of ERIH database