The Law of Public Healthcare

The rights and duties of public healthcare providers and their patients are changing radically under the impact of European law, as the principles of the internal market increasingly affect healthcare services in the public and private sectors. This unique book addresses the relation between patients and public healthcare providers under current UK law, in the context of relevant provisions of the EC Treaty and important decisions by the European Court of Justice. Following an overview of the current political and institutional structures of public healthcare, the book discusses the three basic elements of public healthcare from point of view of Patients' choice as regards medical treatment, physician and medicines. The book concludes with a consideration of practical aspects of patient claims, together with the contractual and tortuous liabilities, which arise when public healthcare patients initiate their own medical treatment.