The right to health in context of ensuring the best interests of the child

Rıga Stradiņš University, Latvia

Abstract

The right to health is one of the human fundamental rights. In present socio-legal area in health security issues, the human as an unconditional obedient patient, transforms into medical practitioner's associate, actively participating in all discussions of issues, which affect his health and executable medical manipulations. The human from medical object has turned into the medical subject. As exceptions can be mentioned persons who, for objective reasons, are not able to exercise their rights in full. One of such person group is children. Children have no capability to exercise their rights themselves. Therefore it is important to understand whether the volume of child's right is equal to the volume of adult's rights. Conditionally, we can say that in the stage of exercising the right, children depend on their representatives. The article will provide information on the issues, which affect child's right to health in context of ensuring the best interests of the child in Latvia according to the local and the European Union legal documents. In addition, the article will show the mechanism for dispute resolving, which may occur between a medical institution (doctor) and a person, who represents the child in Latvia. Both international and national legal acts stipulate that a child requires a special care, which includes ensuring the best interests of the child. It is essential that the concept “best interests of the child” is not defined in legislation and in all cases it is subject to interpretation of the adopter of the law (the user). On the fact, how fully the child's natural or legal guardians will defend the interests of the child, depends observation of the child's fundamental right – right to health. To find the answers to the current research questions descriptive, analytical, deduction-induction methods, etc. are used.