The protection of health in the care and trust relationship between doctor and patient: Competence, professional autonomy and responsibility of the doctor and decision-making autonomy of the patient

The Authors review Law No. 219/2017, with its important
contribution to defining the roles and responsibilities of subjects
in care relationship – a dynamic relationship (over time, for the
condition of the interested party, to people who may be involved)
– and regulating advance directives and shared planning of care.
The Law promotes and enhances the relationship of care and trust
between doctor and patient, which includes the competence, professional
autonomy and responsibility of the doctor and the decisional
autonomy and right to self-determination – to make an
informed and voluntary choice about treatment proposed by the
doctor - of the patient. For concrete implementation of the Law, an
adequate information system and all the measures to guarantee
certainty about the consequences of behaviour and protection of
the rights of all the subjects involved are now essential. In addition,
for advance directives, it is essential to reflect on the adequacy
of medical information required by the Law itself for its
drafting, considering that the citizen can contact qualified professionals
and also independently find this information autonomously,
selecting the sources of information.