Patients´ rights and duties from the point of new legislation view.

The health care in the Czech Republic has recently undergone significant changes that have led to higher quality of care and greater patient satisfaction. But the truth is that despite the widespread availability and relatively high level of health care there still are some shortcomings, especially from the point of the use and implementation of the patients´ rights and duties. If a person finds himself in the role of the patient, it is obvious that he feels vulnerable and is worried about one of the most important values of his life, which health undoubtedly represents. Thus, if a patient puts his health into the doctor's hands, he should be sure that with him will be act on the basis of a relationship and not a paternalistic. Knowledge of rights and duties of patients is therefore particularly important in terms of strengthening the equivalent relationship between doctor and patient. As a result of consistent compliance with the various rights and duties are reduced risks that threaten during hospitalization and increased patient satisfaction with the care provided. At present, legislative regulation of patients´ rights and duties in the Czech Republic is based on the Constitution of the Czech Republic and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, however one of the most important legal documents relating to the issue is the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, which aims to safeguard human dignity and human rights and freedoms of the individual with regard to the application of biology and medicine. An important milestone in this issue also became Act no. 372/2011 Coll., on the provision of health services, which entered into force on 1st April 2012 and replaced the Act no. 20/1966 Coll., on Health Care. This diploma thesis, as the name implies, deals with patients´rights and duties, while the analysis of the issue focuses on new legislation. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. In the introduction to the theoretical part, some basic concepts related to the topic are firstly defined. Following chapters deal with the legislative anchoring of medical law as a whole and selected principles of medical law. The last two chapters, in direct relation to medical legislation, deal with patients´actual rights and duties. The practical part is focused on the research knowledge of rights and duties of both the patients themselves as well as healthcare workers. It is based on qualitative research methods conducted through the semi-structured interview. The research simple group consisted of six respondents from the general public, and six surveyed healthcare workers. The task of this section is to bring current knowledge concerning the overall awareness of patients´ rights and duties. The aim is to analyze the current legislation of the issue and map knowledge of patients´ rights and duties in both the lay and also professional public. The research shows that public awareness of patients´ rights and duties, despite their new anchor in Act no. 372/2011 Sb., about health services, has not increased far enough. Although at first glance the general knowledge of the issue, the public, on their own initiative does not seek to increase their knowledge of their rights and duties in relation to the providers of medical services. In contrast, awareness of health professionals regarding patients´ rights and duties is at the good level, but this can be attributed mainly to the fact of their daily movements in the field of the issue. This diploma thesis presents actual information about patients´ rights and duties from the point of current legislation view. At the same time it maps the knowledge of patients´rights and duties and healthcare professionals and points to the broader psychosocial context in the issue. The results can therefore be used both to improve public awareness of their rights and duties, as well as the education of all staff in the assisting professions