The subject of my thesis is the patient's right to die in peace and dignity. In the thesis I try to present the essence of this right and the elements that make up this right. In Poland, for a long time patient rights were not regulated by law. For the first<\/p>\n\n\n\n
legal act, which contained a substitute for a catalogue of the above-mentioned rights, can be regarded as the Act on Health Care Institutions of 1991, which is currently not in force. In fact, it is only since 2008 , when the Act on Patients' Rights and Patients' Rights Ombudsman was passed, that we can say that there is a law in force in the Polish legal system that is mainly directed at patients' rights. It is the fundamental source of these rights and also constitutes a catalogue of them. The fact that patients are covered by a separate act makes them equal partners in their relations with the health service. Patients' rights are complex in nature, and their application is possible in both public and private law relationships. There is no denying that their interpretation should be done in the light of human rights. Very often, the right to die in peace and dignity is in conflict with another right. As a rule, in the Polish system of medical law, a doctor may not provide health care without the patient's consent. However, the legislator has safeguarded certain situations in which a doctor may perform a medical act in spite of the lack of consent. The Public Health Act provides for a chapter covering the right to respect the patient's intimacy and dignity. This is a very broad right, consisting of many aspects including the right to die in peace and dignity and to provide measures to alleviate pain and other suffering. The above rights are the rights of the patient. It can be said that the object of protection of the right to die in peace and dignity is human life. This right is to protect life from additional suffering, pain and unnecessary medical interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n