IPPMed Representatives at the 10th Conference of the European Association of Health Law in Uppsala

On 9–11 September 2026, Uppsala University hosted the 10th Conference of the European Association of Health Law (EAHL), held under the theme “Navigating the Frontiers of Health Law in an Evolving Europe”. The event brought together more than 200 researchers and practitioners from across Europe. The programme comprised over one hundred presentations, ranging from artificial intelligence and health data governance, through reproductive medicine, to mental health law.

Our Center was strongly represented in Uppsala. Papers were presented by:

Prof. Maria Boratyńska, “Pregnancy termination in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities – between the woman’s right to health protection and the child’s right to dignified death”. Among other things, Prof. Boratyńska pointed out that a ban on termination of pregnancy on embryopathological grounds disregards the suffering of a fetus affected by a lethal defect. A woman’s decision to terminate may therefore also serve to protect the child from pain that a short life after birth would not outweigh.

Dr Katarzyna Syroka-Marczewska, “Mental Health Protection: the Perspective of Polish Legal Regulations”. The author discussed the rights of psychiatric hospital patients in Poland, in particular the right to consent to hospitalisation, the right to information and the legality of direct coercion, as well as the position and competences of the Psychiatric Hospital Patients’ Rights Ombudsman.

Michał Kropiwnicki, “The Artificial Therapist and the Missing Clinician: Generative Artificial Intelligence and Access to Mental Health Care for Minor Patients”. The presentation addressed the use of generative AI as a substitute for unavailable psychiatric and psychological care for children and adolescents. The author identified gaps in the AI Act and argued, among other things, for recognising a right to contact with a human clinician.

Krzysztof Ślaski, “Non-pecuniary damages for violation of patient’s rights as an instrument of protection of patient’s autonomy: the cases of Poland, France and Italy”. The author compared how three legal systems allow compensation to be claimed for a violation of patient’s rights regardless of any damage to health. He showed that, although patient autonomy is formally recognised in a similar way, differing evidentiary requirements, the strictest of them in Italy, lead to unequal protection.

Aleksander Wiaderek, “When Low Odds Must Be Taken: Probabilistic Risk Standards and the Criminal Liability of Physician-Guarantors in European Health Law”. The author proposed that the criminal liability of a physician-guarantor for refraining from an intervention with a low probability of success should be assessed not against a rigid percentage threshold, but on the basis of the gravity and irreversibility of the threatened harm, the quality of realistic alternatives and the state of medical consensus. The paper also discussed the use of AI tools for estimating clinical risk.

Marta Puścion, “Forced Paternity in the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology: Between Procreative Autonomy and Legal Compulsion”. The author contrasted the approach taken by the ECtHR in Evans v. the United Kingdom with the more pronatalist solutions adopted in Poland and Israel. In her presentation, she proposed introducing prior agreements on the fate of embryos.

The trip and participation in the conference were made possible by the support of the Rector of the University of Warsaw and the Excellence Initiative – Research University (IDUB) programme.

We warmly congratulate all the Speakers on their successful presentations and on taking part in one of the most important European forums of medical law.

We thank the organisers, Uppsala University and the EAHL, for an excellently prepared event.