The Right to Healthcare under European Law

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Published: Mar 26, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.51.2017.1037
Keywords:
right to healthcare, human rights law, justiciability

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André den Exter
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Abstract

Too often, the right to healthcare has been considered an illusory right that is not even a legal right, but merely an aspirational norm that cannot be adjudicated before the court. In modern human rights law, considering individual and social rights as interdependent and indivisible, such an approach is untenable. Both legal doctrine and recent case law from domestic and international courts have elaborated and confirmed the specific obligations under the right to healthcare, countering the general complaint of “shrouded vagueness”. Landmark cases have even provided a functional remedy to enforce individual healthcare claims successfully. This paper will examine the revised legal status and content of such a right to healthcare from a European perspective.

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How to Cite
den Exter, André. 2017. “The Right to Healthcare under European Law”. Diametros, no. 51 (March), 173-95. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.51.2017.1037.
Issue
No. 51 (2017)
Section
Equality and Decency in Healthcare
Author Biography

André den Exter, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Dr. André den Exter
Lecturer in Health law and Jean Monnet chair EU Health Law
Institute of Health Policy and Management
Erasmus University Rotterdam

E-mail: denexter@bmg.eur.nl

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