To whom does the law apply?

The patient

Under the law, the ‘patient’ is any person receiving or seeking healthcare.

This definition includes both people interacting with a healthcare provider and people who are unconscious to whom healthcare is being (unknowingly) provided.

The healthcare provider

Persons carrying on a regulated healthcare profession are bound to respect the patient’s rights, whether they work in a hospital or in a different setting. This includes:

• physicians,
• dentists,
• pharmacists,
• psychotherapists,
• healthcare assistants,
• elderly care assistants,
• social and hygiene workers,
• social workers,
• surgical assistants,
• medical laboratory assistants,
• radiology technicians,
• dieticians,
• occupational therapists,
• nurses,
• anaesthetics and intensive care nurses,
• paediatric nurses,
• head nurses,
• psychiatric nurses,
• laboratory assistants,
• masseurs,
• physiotherapists,
• speech and language therapists,
• orthoptists,
• curative teachers,
• chiropodists,
• psychomotor therapists,
• midwives.

It also includes the following care providers:

• medical analysis and clinical biology laboratories,
• therapeutic establishments and convalescence homes,
• psychiatrists practising in a non-hospital setting,
• suppliers of orthopaedic prostheses, orthoses and epitheses,
• opticians,
• the Luxembourg Red Cross for blood transfusions,
• parties involved in the conditioning and supply of human blood and blood products,
• people specifically providing transport to the sick or injured,
• palliative care providers,
• aid and care establishments and networks.