- Events
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Webinar: A Plea for A European Digital Patients' Rights Charter
Date: 17th March
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Price: Free, but registration is needed
Time
14:00-15:00 CET (Central European Time)
Organizer
Ana Nordberg on behalf of Nordic PerMed Law
How to register
Please register here by 10 am on 17th March.
You will receive a Zoom-link shortly before the event.
For questions contact: sarah.de_heer@jur.lu.se
About
Artificial intelligence and other digital health technologies are rapidly transforming healthcare systems across Europe. While these innovations promise improvements in diagnostics, treatment, and efficiency, they also generate new risks for patients’ health and fundamental rights. At the same time, the European Union plays an increasingly central role in regulating AI, medical devices, and health data, yet without providing a consolidated framework for patients’ rights in this evolving digital landscape.
This contribution examines whether the algorithmisation of healthcare requires the recognition of a coherent canon of patients’ rights at EU level. It argues that the current patchwork of national laws, sector-specific EU legislation, and general human rights instruments leaves significant gaps in protection, particularly in light of AI-related risks such as technical and contextual bias, opacity, automation, and accountability deficits.
A blueprint for an EU Charter of Digital Patients’ Rights is outlined. Traditional rights, such as the right to privacy, informed consent, access to healthcare, and effective remedy, are reconsidered in light of AI-driven decision-making. In addition, the blueprint proposes the recognition of novel rights tailored to the digital context, including a right not to be subject to fully automated medical decision-making, a right to meaningful human contact, a right to mental privacy, a right to digital health literacy, and a right to equitable access to new healthcare technologies. By consolidating and modernising patients’ rights at EU level, such a Charter could enhance legal clarity, promote more uniform protection across Member States, and strengthen trust in digital healthcare.
About Hannah
Dr. Hannah van Kolfschooten is a researcher at the Centre for Life Sciences Law at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Her research focuses on the intersection of law, technology, and health.