How health care professionals confront and solve ethical dilemmas - a tale of two countries: Slovenia and Croatia.

Aim: To assess the differences in the way how Slovenian and Croatian health care professionals (HCPs) confront ethical dilemmas and perceive the role of hospital ethics committees (HECs).

Methods: This cross-sectional, survey-based study involved HCPs from three Slovenian and five Croatian university medical centers (UMC). The final sample sizes were 308 (244 or 79.

The first nationwide study on facing and solving ethical dilemmas among healthcare professionals in Slovenia.

Background: Healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients and families are often faced with ethical dilemmas. The role of healthcare ethics committees (HECs) is to offer support in these situations.

Aim: The primary objective was to study how often HCPs encounter ethical dilemmas.

Accommodaton of constitutional due process rights within the new patients' rights legislation in Slovenia.

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia issued several decisions concerning the protection of patients' rights (e.g. decisions on involuntary commitment, on access to health care, on rights related to obligatory and voluntary health insurance).

The Slovenian Mental Health Act de lege ferenda.

This article analyzes the case-law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia relating to the protection of mentally ill persons. In case No. U-I-60/03 the Constitutional Court declared that the provisions of Arts.