The right to proper care and equal treatment

The legal principles governing the treatment of patients are defined in the Act on the Status and Rights of Patients (No. 785/1992).

 

 

Patients are entitled to be treated respectfully and appropriately by health care personnel. Members of the personnel address patients without violating their dignity, personal beliefs, or privacy. Special requirements arising from the patient's ethnic/cultural background or mother tongue are to be taken into account as far as possible. When the patient is a child, the needs of the other family members must also be considered.

 

 

Each permanent resident of Finland is entitled to health and medical care as required by their state of health, within the limits of the resources available to health and medical care.

Patients are entitled to good quality health and medical care. The provided care must be regarded as good both objectively and subjectively. In this context, objectively good care refers to evidence-based care justified on medical grounds, and subjectively good care to the patient's personal experience of the care provided.