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Emergency care criminalized in Turkey

Turkey has criminalized emergency care outside the hospital without government authorization and imposed stiff penalties.
An injured protester is carried to an ambulance outside of Gezi Park in central Istanbul June 15, 2013. Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul overnight on Sunday, erecting barricades and starting bonfires, after riot police firing teargas and water cannon stormed a park at the centre of two weeks of anti-government unrest. Lines of police backed by armoured vehicles sealed off Taksim Square in the centre of the city as officers raided the adjoining Gezi Park late on Saturday, where protesters

“With this new law, a doctor will face to risk the criminal penalty of up to three years in jail, like those deliberately injuring a person, while taking care of someone requiring urgent medical attention outside the hospital,” Dr. Filiz Unal Incekara, Turkish Medical Association (TTB) board member, told Al-Monitor. “The land of the law now — in brief – criminalizes doctors’ Hippocratic oath, and the principles embraced in the Universal Human Rights Declaration that prioritize saving lives before anything else. That cannot be acceptable!”

This new law is part of an omnibus bill composed of 56 articles approved by parliament this month. This specific legislation compels doctors and health professionals to apply for official permission before they may administer emergency first aid. Without that authorization, the medical personnel could face one to three years in prison and fines of up to $1 million for breaking the law.

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