BMJ  2005;331:230 (23 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7510.230

Commentary

Ethics in health care and research in European transition countries: reality and future prospects

¹ Croatian Medical Journal, alata 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia marusica@mef.hr

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Boroveki et al examined the structure and performance of hospital ethics committees in Croatia, as a paradigm of healthcare ethical regulations in transitional countries.¹ They found out that these bodies were highly bureaucratic and concerned almost exclusively with approval of research protocols, and that their members were mostly older physicians without the knowledge and skills that would be useful for the other functions of the ethics committees (education, guidelines development and ethical case analysis).

The same legalistic and bureaucratic organisation is a characteristic of the whole legal regulation of health care and health professionals in a transitional country such as Croatia.² It is thus not surprising that ethical regulations are taken lightly and that their breach is common. For example, cheating, as an example of unethical behaviour, is very common among medical students in Croatia.³ A study of attitudes towards cheating, involving economics students in Russia, Israel, the Netherlands, . . . [Full text of this article]

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