A practical guide to secularism in hospitals

2023-12-14 16:16:31

On the occasion of its 3rd Secularism Day, December 9, 2023, Assistance publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) clarified the rights and obligations of hospital staff and users in matters of secularism and provides a guide on this subject on its site. The ambition of this new reference tool: to answer very practical questions experienced in services by recalling the common rule and the conditions of its application.

All public services are required to respect the principle of secularism and all public agents are concerned by the principle of neutrality which results from this and is imposed on public hospitals. How to define religious comments and behavior? Can you be absent for religious reasons? Pray in the hospital chapel on work time? After a collection of multiple field experiences in order to illustrate the diversity of daily situations in hospitals, the AP-HP provides a legal and practical guide. It was written by the legal affairs and patients’ rights department of the AP-HP, in charge of this subject, and the secretariat of the college of ethics. Furthermore, it was produced in conjunction with user representatives, then validated by the College of Ethics of the AP-HP in its capacity as secularism referent.

Illustrated with numerous vignettes, this document is structured in two mirror parts:

  • hospital staff and secularism;
  • hospital users and secularism.

It provides support for everyone, both staff and users, to support them on a daily basis.

• Secularism in hospitals, AP-HP Guides, December 2023, to download online.

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