The European Court of Human Rights has found that by failing to provide emergency healthcare to a new-born baby, Turkey has violated the right to life, as enshrined in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court held that the child died as a direct result of the failure to admit her for treatment, and this failure coupled with the inadequate investigation by authorities after the event amounted to a breach of the child’s Article 2 rights.
The applicants are parents of a new born who died in an ambulance waiting to be treated for a respiratory problem. Both the parents and the Government accept the gravity and urgency of need for medical intervention at the time but treatment was not made available because no place could be found at any hospital in the region. The baby was refused admission to several hospitals because they either did not have the equipment to treat the child or the bed space in specialised neonatal units.
Under Article 2 of the Convention, States have a positive duty to take preventative measures to protect the lives of its citizens. It also has a duty to investigate deaths where it may have occurred as a result of failings of the State. The Court examined whether the domestic authorities had done what could have reasonably expected of them to prevent the death of the child, and whether they adopted measures to ensure protection of the child’s life. The Court held that the refusal to treat the child, and the repeated transfer to other units constituted a denial of medical care such as to put a person’s life in danger.
Additionally, the refusal of the authorities to take proceedings against the staff who failed to admit the baby, posed a problem under the Convention. The authorities should have investigated the failings which led to the death of the child such as emergency admissions protocols, coordination between neonatal units and lack of basic facilities. The authorities should have assessed whether these factors were compatible with public health service standards and whether they could establish liability for the child’s death.
The Court found that the State had not sufficiently ensured that the proper organisation and functioning of the public hospital service, or its health protection system. The child died because it had not been offered any treatment and this amounts to a denial of medical care such as to put a person’s life in danger. The Court also found that the judicial system’s response to the tragedy was insufficient and did not help to shed light on the circumstances of the child’s death. On this basis the Court held that there had been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention and awarded damages to the applicants.
Click here to read the full judgment on Asiye Genç v. Turkey [French only]
Click here to read a summary of the case [English]