Patients and relatives--a human rights perspective on the legal regulation of intimate relationships

This article examines the debate between advocates of patients' rights and relatives' rights through a study of the new Israeli Mentally Sick Persons Law of 1991. It indicates a duality in the legal treatment of relative-patient relations. On the one hand, relatives are assigned with the role of patients' de facto guardians. On the other hand, patients could be involuntarily hospitalized in order to protect their relatives' right to a normal way of life. Some attempts to resolve this apparent incoherence are discussed and the limitations imposed by the freedom principle are identified. It is argued that the focus should be upon the realities of an interpersonal relationship and not on some presupposed classification which has small legal relevance.