Certain forms of abuses in health-care settings that may cross a threshold of mistreatment that is tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2013, para. 72
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People who use drugs are a highly stigmatized and criminalized population whose experience of health-care is often one of humiliation, punishment and cruelty. Drug users living with HIV are often denied emergency medical treatment. In some cases the laws specifically single out the status of a drug user as a stand-alone basis for depriving someone of custody or other parental rights. Use of drug registries - where people who use drugs are identified and listed by police and health-care workers, and their civil rights curtailed - are violations of patient confidentiality that lead to further ill-treatment by health providers.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
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Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment