[Individual rights vs public health in the fight against contagious diseases: proposals to improve the current legal framework].

This article analyses, from a legal perspective, the current legal framework regulating the adoption of health measures to protect public health against contagious diseases. It argues that current regulations generate legal uncertainty on the basis of the wide range of discretionary powers they give to the public administration and the lack of provisions for limiting these powers. As a result, the guarantee mechanisms (primarily judicial consent) only weakly protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens affected by health measures. To conclude, the article proposes several amendments to improve public health regulations related to contagious diseases. The purpose is to render a legal framework that offers more legal certainty, in which it is possible to protect individual rights and freedoms when measures are adopted, without sacrificing the effective protection of public health. PMID: 27837798 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Gaceta Sanitaria - Category: Global & Universal Tags: Gac Sanit Source Type: research