The Israeli Patients' Rights Law: a discourse analysis of some main values

This semantic analysis of the Israeli Patients' Rights Law reconstructs the historical root of some of its philosophical values through a linguistic approach similar to Foucault's. It aims to distinguish the origins of this type of discourse, and in particular, to examine whether most Israeli values in the field of medical ethics are anchored in Western or Jewish tradition. The main concepts examined are kavod, "dignity," and pratiut, "privacy." The concept of dignity shows a strong, direct derivation from the Bible through the monotheistic notion of absolute and sacred human essence, whereas the concept of privacy appears to be more recently developed by the Western human rights discourse. In that light, "privacy" could be linked to human having: it enhances an external point of view on objective entities, which justifies its secular elaboration. "Dignity" could be linked to human being: it enhances an inner, subjective point of view, which justifies deeper spiritual roots.