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THE PATIENT AS CONSUMER' A LEGAL ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE RIGHT TO HEALTH AND MARKET REGULATION
Abstract
The valorisation of a healthcare model centred on the active role of the patient has allowed its assimilation, from a legal perspective, to the figure of the consumer, characterised by ontological vulnerability and information asymmetry. This analogy is convincing in the hypothesis of the patient-direct user of medical devices, while it is more problematic in the presence of a therapeutic relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider, in particular medical facility. The assessment of compatibility between consumer and care relationship is conducted through the analysis of the European legislation on the notion of consumer (Dir. 93/13/EEC), and of the case law of the CJEU, which is reluctant to undue extensions of protection (cf. C-177/22), albeit with variable geometry. The study of case law about product liability (Dir. 85/374/EEC; Proposal 2022/495), shows the application of the discipline to damages suffered by any injured party, even without the status of consumer. This paper critiques the consumer metaphor, a view shared by American doctrine (Gusmano et al., 2019), not only for reasons of economic policy (e.g., inapplicability of the rule of supply and demand to the healthcare market), but also due to the distinct nature of the interests involved: commercial in the consumer relationship and existential in the care relationship, which seeks to protect the fundamental right to health (Art. 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU).
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