RESUMEN
Finland enacted as the first country in Europe an Act on the Status and Rights of Patients. This report deals with the experiences gained in the course of the implementation of the patient law during the past three years it has been in force. Patients' rights to information and self-determination are considered as the most central matters. Also the right to good care, the status of minor patients and patients' right to privacy protection are important matters. Patient ombudsmen have tried to convey information to the field on the law and the obligations it imposes on health care personnel. The law is considered to already have influenced practical functions within health care. However, there is still much to improve in patients' access to information and in the treatment of patients; the attitudes and the care traditions change slowly. That living wills have become more general is a manifestation of people's willingness to use their right of self-determination even when they are no more able to express their will. Complaints that are processed at the local level are frequent, and each organization has a Patient Ombudsman. The principles of this system of complaints and patient ombudsmen are considered good, but there is much room for improvement.
Asunto(s)
Defensa del Paciente/legislación & jurisprudencia , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Defensa del Niño/legislación & jurisprudencia , Confidencialidad/legislación & jurisprudencia , Finlandia , Accesibilidad a los Servicios de Salud/legislación & jurisprudencia , Humanos , Consentimiento Informado/legislación & jurisprudencia , Voluntad en Vida/legislación & jurisprudencia , Privacidad/legislación & jurisprudencia , Revelación de la VerdadRESUMEN
This study comprised all complaints submitted from 1980 to 1990 by coronary patients and their relatives to the Finnish National Board of Health (NBH). The purpose of this study was to determine the reasons for complaints and their consequences. The complaints were coded and the material was analysed using the statistical BMDP package. Only 59 of a total of 7,516 complaints dealt with coronary disease. The majority of complaints concerned professional technical competence. The NBH found negligence in ten cases and gave administrative counselling to the professionals at fault. The negligence was not deemed serious enough to warrant any penalties or the restriction of licences. Communication problems were difficult to prove and none of these complaints resulted in counselling. Treatment of coronary heart disease seldom results in a formal complaint and negligence is found only in a minority of cases. Patient dissatisfaction can well be studied by analysing complaints, but the general quality of coronary care has to be addressed with other methods.