Physician and Patient as Main Subjects of Medical Law

The paper analyzes the public-law status of physicians and patients as key subjects of medical law. This approach has made it possible to identify several issues that may be resolved through the transformation of public-law regulation. The author emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between the employment status and the professional status of medical practitioners in order to protect physicians from administrative pressure capable of adversely affecting the quality of medical practice, including in the application of genomic technologies. In addition, the author concludes that it is necessary to distinguish the legal status of a sick person from that of a patient. A patient may be a healthy individual seeking medical services, whereas a sick person officially suffers from a disease impairing the functioning of the body. Differentiating the concepts of «patient» and «sick person» would further ensure the supremacy of the individual and the protection of human rights and freedoms, thereby facilitating a more effective implementation of Article 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, strengthening the preventive nature of healthcare, guaranteeing legal protection for persons genuinely in need of treatment, and preventing abuses associated with the application of genomic technologies in medical practice. The author further notes that the use of genomic technologies should be permitted exclusively in relation to sick persons, if such methods constitute either the only possible or the most effective form of treatment. This approach would help prevent potential abuses connected with the use of such technologies not for therapeutic purposes, but rather for the enhancement of a healthy individual or a future human being according to particular characteristics, including intelligence, memory, physical traits, or cognitive abilities.

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