Human Body Integrity and Consent

Extract

[...] In addition, Article L. 234-8 of the Road Code provides that « The act of refusing to undergo the checks provided for in Articles L. 234-4 to L. 234-6 or the checks provided for in Article L. 234-9 is punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 4,500 euros. Solution : Mr. C will not be physically forced to undergo the exams, but if he refuses to submit to them, he exposes himself to penal proceedings. II. Case Study 2 Mrs. [...]

[...] The human body I. Case Study 1 Mr. C. was arrested by the police after a night out with friends. He refused to blow into the breathalyzer and follow the police to the station for a blood test. They let him go but warned him that this refusal would have consequences. What risks does he face? Legal qualification of the facts: The blood test envisaged constitutes an attack on the physical integrity of the person committed by a third party. [...]

[...] Legal qualification of the facts: This is an attack on the integrity of a deceased person's body constituted by a biological expertise. Applicable rules of law: Article 16-11, paragraph provides that in civil matters, a biological expertise can only be ordered in the context of a judicial action related to filiation. In the event that the presumed parent has died, the same paragraph specifies that 'Unless express agreement of the person manifested during their lifetime, no identification by genetic fingerprints can be made after their death.' However, the European Court of Human Rights in its judgment Jäggi Switzerland of 13 July 2006, condemned on the basis of the right to identity indirectly recognized by Article 8 of the ECHR relating to the respect of the right to private life, Switzerland for having refused a genetic expertise post mortem in order to establish a filiation, on the basis of the right to respect for private life which implies a right to know one's origins and in particular the identity of one's parents. [...]

[...] Can the doctors override this refusal? Legal qualification of the facts: It is a question of the possibility of causing physical harm to a minor by a therapeutic act without the consent of the parents. It is a necessary act to save the health of a minor. Applicable rule of law: According to Article L. 1111-4 of the Public Health Code, if the holders of parental authority oppose a treatment, the doctor may disregard this refusal when it risks causing serious consequences for the health of the minor and he delivers the indispensable care. [...]