Research Thierry Vansweevelt

Abstract

European society is becoming increasingly diverse due to high levels of migration. Persons with a migration background, especially those from non-western countries, may experience significant challenges when they seek medical care. Some of the main issues arise in the context of medical decision-making, where cultural preferences for close family involvement may be difficult to reconcile with the western model of medicine, as enshrined in health law and medical deontology. This is the first comprehensive research project on medical decision-making in patients with a migration background undertaken in the European context. It brings together state-of-the-art expertise in health sciences, medical sociology, and health law, and applies a transversal research design and a tailored socio-legal research methodology. In this way, we will gain crucial insight into the relevant preferences of patients with a migration background and into strategies and tools that may be legally acceptable to improve medical decision-making in a diversity-responsive way. More specifically, the goals of the proposed research are threefold, each corresponding to a major research gap and therefore groundbreaking. The first research goal is to examine the preferences and challenges of patient populations with a migration background regarding medical decision-making, with particular attention to the role of family members in this process, and the variations that may exist between and within these groups. The second research goal is to investigate the practical strategies and tools that general practitioners have developed to address these preferences and challenges. The third research goal is to analyze how much room Belgian health law currently leaves for responding to these preferences and whether this legal framework should be reinterpreted or amended in the light of the "human right to culturally appropriate healthcare". The overarching aim is to improve diversity-responsive, patient-oriented care for the migrant population, by identifying those strategies and tools that may be legally acceptable to accommodate patient preferences and by incorporating them in policy and legal recommendations, as well as in an educational module for physicians and information materials for patients, families, and healthcare workers. The project uses a mixed-methods design, combining desk research and quantitative (factorial survey with hypothetical vignettes) and qualitative (focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and nominal group method) research methodologies. The research team will jointly review the results from the three perspectives, by using multiperspective qualitative methods. With its aim to examine and improve diversity-responsive, patient-oriented care for the migrant population, our research project aligns closely with the vision statement of the University of Antwerp on fostering diversity and equal opportunities, as well as with current national and international political and research priorities. Supporting an inclusive society by reducing inequalities and social exclusion is a priority action point for the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the UN, and the WHO. International policy instruments highlight that inequalities in access to healthcare are growing and particularly affect vulnerable groups, including patients with a migration background. Consequently, they call for measures to guarantee that every person effectively obtains a satisfactory degree of care. In contributing to this goal, our research project addresses central policy and research priorities. The project is therefore expected to result in major opportunities to obtain European and other international funding, and to form the basis for international research collaborations, taking into account similar challenges arising in other European countries. In this way, the project will also significantly increase the international visibility of the University of Antwerp.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Assche Kristof
• Co-promoter: Van de Velde Sarah
• Co-promoter: van Olmen Josefien
• Co-promoter: Van Royen Paul
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Death is a universal experience. Yet how a society deals with dead bodies, and how it bids farewell to the deceased is dictated by cultural values and religion and belief systems, as well as by juridical possibilities, knowledge of environmental impact and shared knowledge about public health hazards. A range of factors is directly relevant to how contemporary societies such as Belgium plan and provide for the deceased, such as the consideration of an ageing population, a pluralistic society, limited land availability for traditional cemeteries, and a sustainable framework for much of our society's social practices. Making the funeral industry responsive to contemporary needs is a continuing challenge worldwide. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the task more urgent. In 2020 and 2021 funeral undertakers in Belgium were confronted with unseen challenges. It sharpened their sense of a need for a better social, juridical and ethical embedding of funeral practices in Belgium. Their sense of urgency corresponds with global developments studied in the fields of law, environmental ethics, cultural sociology and public health science. Awaiting the result of the resubmission of the SBO-proposal in 2022 it will be useful to prepare the comprehensive interdisciplinary research by focusing on 1) the sociological reality and 2) the philosophical motivation driving this research. Therefore two lines of inquiry will be carried out from December 1 2022 onwards: 1) a focus group study with stakeholders (funeral undertakers, citizens belonging to religious minorities, citizens preferring a non-standard funeral method for moral-existential 3 reasons, representatives of governmental bodies) and 2) a philosophical inquiry into the moralexistential reasons for non-standard funeral methods like humusation, resomation and natural burials. The hypothesis is that ecofeminist theory and indigenous philosophies on the interdependence of humans and their natural environment will help to construct a conceptual framework to think about the moral significance of funeral choices.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Schaubroeck Katrien
• Co-promoter: Lenaerts Silvia
• Co-promoter: Van de Velde Sarah
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Verschraegen Gert

Research team(s)

• Center for Ethics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

As a result of the increasing impact of multiculturalism in healthcare, challenges arise that threaten the patient-physician relationship. My proposed research will be the first to systematically analyse the rights and duties of healthcare providers and patients who want to manifest their religious or cultural preferences in the healthcare setting. The focus will be on the display or wearing of religious or cultural symbols and clothing by healthcare providers, and on religiously or culturally inspired patient requests to be treated by a healthcare provider of the same sex/gender, race/ethnicity or religion. The first goal is to examine, under the supranational legal framework and the legal frameworks of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, how the display or wearing of religious or cultural symbols and clothing by healthcare providers in the healthcare setting is regulated. The second goal is to examine, under the supranational legal framework and the legal frameworks of the four countries under consideration, a possible patient right to sex/gender-, race/ethnicity-, or religion-concordant care, and possible legal remedies available to healthcare providers who might feel subject to discrimination. In integrating the findings of both goals, the research will also allow us to determine the boundaries of possible discrimination of healthcare providers in Western Europe operating in a multicultural healthcare setting.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Assche Kristof
• Co-promoter: Van de Velde Sarah
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Fellow: El Yattouti Naoual

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Although neurotechnologies are still in their infancy, they are expected to rapidly expand, resulting in an ever-wider range of applications and an unprecedented intrusion into the human mind. Largely novel risks related to the monitoring, manipulation, and even control of the mind will raise significant challenges for our human rights framework. Currently, the debate on this issue is very fragmented and dominated by non-legal perspectives. My research will be the first to engage in a comprehensive legal analysis, aimed at answering the question as to whether the current human rights framework is able to adequately respond to the challenges raised by neurotechnological developments, or whether it needs to be amended. The overarching goals are: (1) to examine the implications of neurotechnological developments for the human mind; (2) to determine whether and, if so, how these implications are addressed by the human rights framework; (3) to assess on that basis the adequacy of the existing human rights framework; and (4) to examine whether there is a need to clarify existing human rights or, alternatively, to supplement them with neuro-specific human rights to improve the human rights response and to make it future proof.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Assche Kristof
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Fellow: Istace Timo

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Tort law provides for a right to a remedy in case of a victim suffering damage that was caused by an event triggering liability (such as a fault). The doctrine describing what damage is recoverable is primarily written from the point of view of material damage, which is damage that consists of an impairment of property and can therefore be expressed in monetary terms. Its counterpart, moral damage, is damage that can not be expressed in monetary terms and involves an impairment of feelings. It is not entirely clear how traditional theoretical principles apply to such moral damage. There is a lack of clarity about which kinds of losses do or do not qualify as moral damage and, above all, what an appropriate form of remedy looks like. Moral damage is a source of legal uncertainty. Empirical research involving Belgian victims has shown that this legal uncertainty places a heavy burden on the shoulders of victims. These persons are already confronted with an emotional suffering and would rather not face additional legal burden and be revictimised in negotiation processes with insurers. Therefore, this research aims to clearly define the boundaries of the existence of moral damage and investigate how a remedy should be shaped. How should compensation be determined and is money an appropriate remedy?

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Weyts Britt
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Fellow: Schollaert Victor

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Compensation funds provide compensation to victim of accidents regardless of whether their damage is the result of anyone else's fault. They are created because of perceived gaps of cover in or shortfalls in the compensation offered by the three other, traditional sources of compensation, i.e. tort law, private insurance and social security. It is hard not to see the many advantages of compensation funds: they offer compensation to victims who do not bear a heavy burden of proof, in an easy, fast and more administrative way and are nog obliged to go to court. Compensation funds seem to be a kind of deus ex machina, as the number of compensation funds is growing rapidly in Belgium. In view of their success, it is surprising till now compensation funds have not been the subject of any overall, critical analysis. This research project will investigate the accordance of compensation funds in the light of human rights, i.e. the right of access to court (given that some funds restrict this access) and of non-discrimination (given the difference in treatment between victims that can rely on a fund and those who can't). Moreover, it will be investigated whether compensation funds fulfill their objectives, i.e. reasonable compensation, easy access, coherent and transparent. Last but not least the project will analyze who should pay these funds: the government or the private sector.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Weyts Britt
• Fellow: Vanhooff Larissa

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Predisposition and pre-existing conditions are one of the most controversial and difficult topics in law, especially Liability Law and Insurance Law. The (pathological) predisposition is a characteristic, mostly unknown, which does not affect ordinary life, but which favors the occurrence of damage when an accident happens. An example is when a person has a very rare allergy to a substance, and due to a car accident he is hospitalized and injected with that substance resulting in his death. The pre-existing condition is an abnormal physical or psychological condition of the victim which is already known or at least exists at the time of the accident. Examples are: anatomical elements (only one eye, or one leg), pathological physical elements (a heart defect) or psychological elements (schizophrenic episodes, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression). The most famous example is the eggshell skull-case in which a person with an eggshell skull or very thin skull suffers dead from an injury that would normally cause only a bump on a normal person. The negligence of a third person can aggravate this pre-existing condition. A one-eyed person loses his second eye due to an accident. An accident can also hasten the evolution of the pre-existing condition. A terminally ill patient who dies due to a car accident is an example of this hypothesis. In all the above mentioned cases the crucial question is whether the victim will be compensated in full or only for the foreseeable damage or for the damage caused separately. In other words, must the tortfeasor pay for the car accident or for the death of the victim? For one eye, or for the blindness? For the dead due to a car accident or only for the time he had to live? In tort law the basic rule is the right of full compensation. This cornerstone of tort law is seen as just and fair and according to the goals of tort law. The rule of full compensation comes under pressure when the damage is unforeseeable or the extent of the damage is unforeseeable due to a predisposition or pre-existing condition of the victim. Hence, an important research question is: are the issues of predisposition and pre-existing conditions in line with the principle of full compensation? Predisposition and pre-existing conditions also play an important role in insurance law. In order to make a proper assessment of the insured risk, the life or physical integrity of the person, insurance companies want information about the health condition of the prospective insured person. For this purpose insurance companies use medical questionnaires or impose medical examinations to look for pre-existing conditions. Questions about pre-existing conditions could violate some fundamental rights, like the right of privacy, and the right on non-discrimination. These questions are one of the key points of this project. Furthermore, the question arises whether the insurance company can determine the definition of a pre-existing condition and can also refuse coverage when no information about a pre-existing condition has been provided. Insurance companies use several clauses to exclude pre-existing conditions, which seems possible, regarding the principle of freedom of contract. First, they limit coverage of the pre-existing condition for a specified period (e.g. waiting period for 1 year). Second, insurance companies may raise an insured's premium due to the existence of a pre-existing condition (asthma e.g.). Finally, and more importantly, insurance companies often use pre-existing condition clauses to deny insurance altogether or to deny coverage of the specific condition for the lifetime of the applicant. The insurance practice must also be assessed in the light of fundamental rights and the contractual balance between parties.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Weyts Britt
• Fellow: D'Hondt Lies

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The Belgian legislator is creating a rapidly growing number of compensation funds. Such funds provide full or partly compensation to victims of accidents, regardless whether or not their damage is imputable to someone else's fault. They are founded because of perceived gaps of coverage, or shortfalls in compensation, offered by the three other traditional sources of compensation, i.e. tort law, private insurance and social security. It is hard not to see the many advantages of compensation funds; a.o. they offer compensation without heavy burdens of proof to victims in an easy, fast and more administrative way, out of court. Compensation funds however seem to be a kind of deus ex machina. In view of their success, they surprisingly have not been the subject of any overall, critical analysis. Hence, this research project sets out to determine and assess their nature, function and legality, with a view of developing consistent touchstones for the organisation of current and future funds. More precisely, the project will investigate the accordance of compensation funds in the light of human rights, i.e. the right of access to justice and of non-discrimination(legality). Moreover, it will be investigated whether compensation funds fulfil their objectives, i.e. reasonable compensation, easy access, coherence and transparency (function). Last but not least the project will analyze who should endow these funds: the government or the private sector (private or public nature).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Weyts Britt

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Compensation funds provide compensation to victim of accidents regardless of whether their damage is the result of anyone else's fault. They are created because of perceived gaps of cover in or shortfalls in the compensation offered by the three other, traditional sources of compensation, i.e. tort law, private insurance and social security. It is hard not to see the many advantages of compensation funds: they offer compensation to victims who do not bear a heavy burden of proof, in an easy, fast and more administrative way and are nog obliged to go to court. Compensation funds seem to be a kind of deus ex machina, as the number of compensation funds is growing rapidly in Belgium. In view of their success, it is surprising till now compensation funds have not been the subject of any overall, critical analysis. This research project will investigate the accordance of compensation funds in the light of human rights, i.e. the right of access to court (given that some funds restrict this access) and of non-discrimination (given the difference in treatment between victims that can rely on a fund and those who can't). Moreover, it will be investigated whether compensation funds fulfill their objectives, i.e. reasonable compensation, easy access, coherent and transparent. Last but not least the project will analyze who should pay these funds: the government or the private sector.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Weyts Britt
• Fellow: Vanhooff Larissa

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project examines how the implementation of the Solvency II directive in the act of March 13, 2016 and the expanding of the MiFID market conduct rules to the insurance industry can comply with the principle of proportionality as a general legal principle. From this perspective, the research analyzes both prudential supervision and market conduct supervision on the insurance industry. The goal is to define recommendations for the legislator, on the one hand, and for the National Bank of Belgium and the FSMA, on the other hand.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Weyts Britt
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the client. UA provides the client research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Weyts Britt

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Education Project
• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the client. UA provides the client research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Dewallens Filip

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project
• Education Project

Abstract

Proposed by the University, the Francqui Foundation each year awards two Francqui Chairs at the UAntwerp. These are intended to enable the invitation of a professor from another Belgian University or from abroad for a series of ten lessons. The Francqui Foundation pays the fee for these ten lessons directly to the holder of a Francqui Chair.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The aim of the study is to give some recommendations on how to adapt the "law on patients rights" in order to be more suitable for the situations which occur in the field of insurance medicine.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verlooy Jan
• Co-promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Human bodily material, like blood, sperm, egg cells, organs and tissues, is very useful for therapeutic and research purposes. The goal of this project is to examine the legal and ethical statute of removed human bodily material, the pro's and con's of a commercialization of human bodily parts and to investigate the role of the state.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Cras Patrick
• Co-promoter: Mortelmans Dimitri

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The goal of this project is to analyze the conditions of access, quality and safety of stem cell research, from the perspective of ethical-legal principles of the autonomy of the person and the protection of the embryo, in interaction with the constant evolution of medicine.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Berneman Zwi

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The strategic aims of the study are twofold. Firstly, the study aims to evaluate end-of-life care and end-of-life decisions in medical practice in Flanders, and to compare these findings with data collected in studies in the Netherlands. Secondly, the study aims to develop quality indicators of end-of-life care and end-of-life decisions, and to investigate possible monitoring systems.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Swennen Frederik

Research team(s)

• Personal Rights and Property Rights

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The starting point for this research is a medical classification of what might be considered as mental illness. Integration of contested cases, such as drug addiction and sexual deviant behaviour, will be tried. This classification will be projected on provisions in mentally ill civil law, in a main past. The research will be developped in two parts : one about the status of the mentally ill, and one about the position of third parties, including the society. Successively, the provisions concerning personal rights, family law and the goods, will be discussed. Proposals to fill in the gaps will be formulated. The possibility to create a general system of mentorschip over the person and/or goods of the mentally ill, will be studied. Foreign systems will be taken into account thereto.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Fellow: Swennen Frederik

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Influence of research in the field of genetics on insurance and pre-employment selection.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Medical experimentation with human subjects is characterized by an inherent conflict of interests which demands an evaluation of the researcher, the hospital, the pharmaceutical industry and ethic comites on the other hand. The final objective is the draft of a legal framework, partly consisting of elements from comparative research, because of the lack of an adequat Belgian regulation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Co-promoter: Cosyns Paul

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The starting point for this research is a medical classification of what might be considered as mental illness. Integration of contested cases, such as drug addiction and sexual deviant behaviour, will be tried. This classification will be projected on provisions in mentally ill civil law, in a main past. The research will be developped in two parts : one about the status of the mentally ill, and one about the position of third parties, including the society. Successively, the provisions concerning personal rights, family law and the goods, will be discussed. Proposals to fill in the gaps will be formulated. The possibility to create a general system of mentorschip over the person and/or goods of the mentally ill, will be studied. Foreign systems will be taken into account thereto.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry
• Fellow: Swennen Frederik

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The purpose of this project consists of a thorough comparative legal study in which shall be examined whether medical experimentation is lawful, which conditions have to be met, and which problems to liability and insurance occur.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Research on legal measures and administrative practices which give rise to discrimination agianst persons with HIV/AIDS, or which aim at combatting discrimination against them, and to propose how discrimination may be overcome by legislative measures or by sensibilisation activities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vansweevelt Thierry

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project