39 Union of Turkish Bar Associations Review 2022 Süleyman ÖZAR practice has a little bit smoothed the way for physicians getting stuck between ethical principles and the legislation. It should be also added that if a forensic report -which finds inconvenient continued execution of the sentence in prison in case of medical diagnoses such as Korsakoff syndrome or cachexia- does not make a reservation in respect of the detention ward in hospitals, the execution of the sentence may be continued in the hospital. In that case, the medical intervention with respect to the person concerned will not fall foul of the Convention.125 We consider that this situation must be considered as a minimum standard, and the forensic report may ensure the release of the person concerned also in that case. In the same vein, it should be born in mind that the patient suffering from Korsakoff syndrome is in need of not treatment but nursing care. Therefore, it should be re-considered whether the continued execution of the sentence imposed on the convict-patient, who has almost no prospect of recovery, is necessary given the expected benefit of the execution.126 Conclusion 1. Hunger strike is an act of protest that falls into the scope of the freedom of expression as a means of raising an objection or expressing a request. 2. The hunger strike or death fast embarked on by free persons cannot be terminated, without the striker’s consent, even at the most critical stage. The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, a part of the Turkish domestic law, and the Regulation on Patients’ Rights embodying provisions in parallel with the former attach utmost importance to personal autonomy on this matter. 3. As there is no contradiction, with respect to the conditions of medical intervention in case of a hunger strike of free persons, between ethics and law, the physician may also follow the ethical principles. 125 ECHR’s judgment in the case of Özgül v. Türkiye (no. 7715/02, 06.03.2007). 126 Manual on Health-Care Services in the Penitentiary Institutions, edited by Prof. Dr. Zafer Öztek, Ministry of Justice, 2012, p. 190.
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