Challenges to the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Including Patient Rights During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus, which first appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and spread quickly to the whole world in a few months, was defined as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 12 March 2020. This process has inevitably brought along problems in many areas, including health, education, social, economics, law, psychology, politics, and international relations. The pandemic era is a period when we appreciate more than ever how valuable our fundamental rights and freedoms are. Of these rights, the right to health and patient rights are significantly adversely impacted. This chapter will evaluate human rights, especially patient rights, mostly affected during this pandemic period in Turkey. This chapter further presents that other states are also continuing to experience effects of the pandemic. Both Turkey and other states must be prepared for the patients to properly benefit from the healthcare system in future outbreaks and pandemics. Otherwise, human and patient rights will continue to suffer.