Resumen de Some thoughts on the fate of poorer Member States' healthcare systems after the ruling in Petru

Vassilis Hatzopoulos

• The ruling in Petru, although unnoticed by legal doctrine, has a very powerful potential effect on national health systems. The Court accepts that a patient from a Member State where public healthcare is of poor quality may, at the expense of that State, receive treatment in another Member State. In this way it gives priority to individual patient rights over national healthcare systems, which it puts in direct competition with one another.