Ain’t no justice in a flowerbed: Similarities and differences between the Law on the protection of persons with mental disabilities and the Law on the protection of the population from infectious diseases – Do we need the Law on the protection of persons with infectious diseases?

Autori:

Goran Arbanas, Sunčana Roksandić

Sažetak
Pandemija COVID-19 otvorila je neka nova pitanja u pružanju zdravstvene zaštite na koja je nužno odgovoriti u suočavanju s ovom pandemijom. Kako se pandemija COVID-19 javila u razdoblju poštivanja „ljudskih prava“, u ovom članku uspoređujemo odredbe koje se tiču zaštite zdravlja te ograničavanje prava dviju ranjivih kategorija, osoba s duševnim smetnjama i osoba za koje postoji sumnja da boluju ili boluju od zaraznih bolesti, budući da se radi o kategorijama osoba čija sloboda može biti ograničena bez njihove volje u određenim slučajevima. Članak ukazuje na nedorečenosti Zakona o zaštiti pučanstva od zaraznih bolesti vezano uz (sudsku) kontrolu izrečenih sigurnosnih mjera, poglavito u usporedbi sa Zakonom o zaštiti osoba s duševnim smetnjama. U zaključku navodimo možebitna rješenja uočenih nedorečenosti. Autori analiziraju pravnu zaštitu navedenih kategorija osoba u odnosu na ostvarivanje njihovog prava na zdravlje i u kontekstu čl. 16 Ustava RH koji omogućuje ograničavanje prava i sloboda da bi se zaštitila sloboda i prava drugih ljudi, pravni poredak, javni moral i zdravlje, što mora biti razmjerno naravi potrebe za ograničavanjem.
Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened new questions in rendering of health care that need to be addressed. As the COVID-19 pandemic occurred during the period of respect for “human rights”, in this article the authors are comparing the provisions concerning health protection and restriction of the rights of two vulnerable categories, persons with mental disorders, and persons suspected of suffering from, or suffering from infectious diseases. Both vulnerable groups are categories of persons whose liberty may be restricted without their will in certain cases. The article points out certain vagueness of the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases regarding the (judicial) control of imposed security measures, especially in comparison with the
Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities. In the conclusion, the authors are providing some possible solutions to the observed ambiguities. The authors analyze the legal protection of these categories of persons in relation to the exercise of their right to health and in the context of Art. 16 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia. This Article enables the restriction of rights and freedoms in order to protect the freedoms and rights of other people, legal order, public morals and health, which must be proportionate to the nature of the need for restriction.