righting

right to fair treatment the fair selection and treatment of subjects during the course of a research study. Principles governing fairness include informed voluntary decision by the subjects to participate and selection according to criteria directly related to the study rather than according to artificial social or cultural biases.

negative right a right to refuse care or not to be interfered with; it obligates another to refrain from doing something. One example is the right to refuse treatment, which is grounded in the principle of respect for autonomy. This is mentioned in the “Patient's Bill of Rights;” see patient's rights.

patient's r's see patient's rights.

positive right a right to be provided with a good or service such as health care, usually grounded in the principle of justice. It is philosophically more difficult to justify than a negative right because it obligates another to do something.