Ethical and Legal Aspects of Medical Screening for Early Diagnosis of Diseases. Prevention and Prophylaxis

• Main Author: Antonia G. Ilieva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2019-09-01
• Series: Folia Medica
• Subjects: health; healthcare; medical screening; health prev
• Online Access: https://foliamedica.bg/article/39410/download/pdf/

Introduction: The main priorities of the implemented health policies in the Republic of Bulgaria are directly aimed at preserving and improving the health of the population, providing equal access of patients to modern and efficient healthcare, promptness and quality, in compliance with the normative requirements of the offered health service. In this sense, the focus of these health policies is to prioritize prevention and prophylaxis of early diagnosis of diseases. It is much more reasonable to prevent the disease or to manage it at an early stage than to slow down the treatment until the pathological processes develop into severe or irreversible complications.Aim: The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the effectiveness of existing legal acts governing the implementation of a common health policy in the field of health promotion and prevention. Another aim is to localize regulatory gaps and make relevant optimization suggestions.Materials and methods: The analysis of this systematic review is based on a thorough review of the existing regulatory framework (statutory and regulative legislation, case law, European practice) that concerns public health. Articles focused directly on the issues of medical screening and public health in a national and global perspective have been studied.Results: Two major legal acts, two regulations and strategies of the World Health Organization are considered. Suggestions for optimization of the control activity of the administrative bodies in the sector are presented.Conclusions: From the analysis done, proposals for optimization of the existing legal framework in the sector of health-care were made. The proposals were made based on the results of the analysis of w8orld trends regarding the methodology for state funding of medical screening for early diagnosis of diseases.The issue in question is up to date and raises issues related to legislative regulation, moral, ethical and deontological principles to which the medical profession adheres, as well as the health policy that is followed by the Ministry of Health in this aspect.