Hungary, officially the Republic of Hungary or Magyar Köztársaság, is a mid-size country in Central Europe, with a surface area of 93 030 square kilometres (35 909 square miles), and had a total population of 10.2 million inhabitants at the beginning of the year 2001. Introduction The term ‘Ombudsman’ originates from Sweden and refers to a public office where any citizen who feels she/he has been treated wrongly or unjustly by a public authority can file a complaint. History associates the first Ombudsman-like office with Karl XII, the Swedish king who imported this institution from the Turkish Court in 1713.* Interestingly, the modern Ombudsman also has Swedish roots. It serves as a constitutional guarantee for both good administration and the respect of citizens’ rights. The term Ombudsman today nevertheless often refers to various general or specialised institutions that serve for the protection of rights. They may function at various levels – parliamentary, ministry, community, hospital, etc. Without taking a position on whether these institutions should be called Ombudsman- like offices I will describe five different institutions that serve to protect the rights of patients in Hungary. The first is the institution of the (real) Ombudsman, which is called the Parliamentary Commissioner on Citizens’ Rights by Hungarian law.** It is based on public law, mainly constitutional. The second is a patients’ rights model that has been introduced in the civil sphere, represented and epitomised by the CHAPTER 4 Ombudspersons and patients’ rights representatives in Hungary Judit Sándor HUNGARY * Based on an interview with the Ombudsman László Majthényi by Judit Kóthy in 2001. ** None of these institutions are mentioned in legal texts as Ombudsmen; nevertheless the Parliamentary Commissioner on Citizens’ Rights is regarded as an Ombudsman.