PATIENT'S RIGHT TO INFORMED CONSENT IN REPUBLIC SRPSKA: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PHYSICAL REHABILITATION).

The principle of informed consent, which requires a patient's fully-informed consent prior to the medical treatment, is closely connected with the value of human dignity. The realization and protection of a patient's dignity is not possible without his/her right to choose the character and scope of medical treatment. This goal cannot be adequately achieved within the traditional model of medical paternalism characterized by the physician's authoritative position. The first part of the article deals with the content and ethical significance of the informed consent doctrine. The legal framework of informed consent in Republic Srpska (RS), one of the two Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH)entities, is analyzed. Special reference is made to the relevance of the informed consent principle within the physical rehabilitation process. Although ethical aspects of physical rehabilitation are often overlooked, this medical field possesses a strong ethical dimension (including an appropriate realization of the patient's right to informed consent).