Why is the Human Rights Act relevant to medical treatment?
The Human Rights Act is relevant to health care providers since it regulates the relationship between individuals and public authorities. It is unlawful for public authorities ‘to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right’. The description of a public authority given in the Act includes: the Department of Health, health authorities, Health Trusts, Primary Care Groups and Trusts in England, Primary Care Trusts in Scotland, Local Health Groups in Wales and the equivalent bodies, still to be established, in Northern Ireland. Individual doctors working within the NHS are almost certainly public authorities and it has been suggested that doctors working privately may also fall into that category. (The degree to which the work of private doctors is covered by the Act remains a matter of speculation and once this matter has been clarified the BMA will include information on its website) This means that from October 2000 doctors working within the NHS throughout the UK are req
