Dutch health care occasionally comes under close international scrutiny. The interest usually centres on euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands. A development of perhaps more lasting importance, however, has so far virtually escaped attention elsewhere. It is the incorporation of a bill on patients' rights into the Dutch Civil Code. This article focuses on the new Dutch Act on Medical Services, which came into force on April 1, 1995. As a point of reference, English medical law will be referred to.