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Oviedo Convention and Its Protocols – Impact on Polish Law International Bioethics Conference Oviedo Convention in Central and Eastern European Countries.

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Presentation on theme: "Oviedo Convention and Its Protocols – Impact on Polish Law International Bioethics Conference Oviedo Convention in Central and Eastern European Countries."— Presentation transcript:

1 Oviedo Convention and Its Protocols – Impact on Polish Law International Bioethics Conference Oviedo Convention in Central and Eastern European Countries September 24 – 25, 2009, Bratislava, Slovakia Ministry of Health, Warsaw, Poland

2 Introduction Poland signed the Oviedo Convention and the Additional Protocol on Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings on 7 May 1999 The remaining three protocols have not been signed Until today the Convention has not been ratified by Poland Reason: lack of scientific and ethical consensus on certain provisions Group on Bioethical Convention – an attempt to to adapt Polish legislation to the Oviedo Convention

3 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (1) Art. 1. Parties to this Convention shall protect the dignity and identity of all human beings and guarantee everyone, without discrimination, respect for their integrity and other rights and fundamental freedoms (...) Protection of inherent dignity of any human being is the basic principle in the preamble to the Constitution Art. 30 of the Constitution: The inherent and inalienable dignity of the person shall constitute a source of freedoms and rights of persons and citizens. It shall be inviolable (...)

4 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (2) Art. 2. The interests and welfare of the human being shall prevail over the sole interest of society or science This provision is reflected in the Constitution which proclaims –freedom of scientific research –dignity of all persons and respect for their freedom and privacy –independence in taking decisions on participation in experimental research (art. 39) The primacy of the human being is further confirmed in legal provisions pertaining to medical experiments on humans

5 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (3) Art. 3. Parties (...) shall take appropriate measures with a view to providing (...) equitable access to health care of appropriate quality Art. 68 of the Constitution: 1. Everyone shall have the right to have his health protected. 2. Equal access to health care services, financed from public funds, shall be ensured by public authorities to citizens, irrespective of their material situation. (...) 3. Public authorities shall ensure special health care to children, pregnant women, handicapped people and persons of advanced age. These provisions include the premise for respecting a certain level of quality of medical services below which one could suspect infringement of the constitutional guarantee

6 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (4) Art. 4. Any intervention in the health field, including research, must be carried out in accordance with relevant professional obligations and standards The relevant standards have been established as regards the qualifications of medical personnel, the premises and equipment of health care institutions. Some of these standards are also established in the codes of professional ethics of doctors, nurses and midwives

7 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (5) Art. 5-9. An intervention in the health field may only be carried out after the person concerned has given free and informed consent to it. This person shall beforehand be given appropriate information as to the purpose and nature of the intervention as well as on its consequences and risks (...) Act on health care institutions (Journal of Laws of 2007 No. 14, item 89) –introduced the notion of informed consent to the Polish legal system –provides that patients have the right to give consent to specific health services or to deny them, having received relevant information –provides that a doctor may perform an operation or apply treatment or diagnostic method resulting in an increased risk for a patient after receiving his or her written consent

8 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (6) Art. 11. Any form of discrimination against a person on grounds of his or her genetic heritage is prohibited The general prohibition of discrimination based on any grounds in political, social and economic spheres is proclaimed by Article 32 of the Constitution: (...) No one shall be discriminated against in political, social or economic life for any reason whatsoever The prohibition of discrimination based on genetic characteristics is contained in Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (binding to Poland)

9 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (7) Art. 12-14: Predictive genetic tests; interventions on the human genome; non-selection of sex Lack of detailed regulations in the field of genetics Genetic interventions, including predictive tests, may be carried out in Poland without limitations This includes out-of-health-domain interventions Exception: prohibition of carrying out genetic tests or using its results for insurance purposes (Act on insurance activity, Journal of Laws of 2003 No. 124, item 1151)

10 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (8) Art. 16-17. Protection of persons undergoing scientific research The basic principles referring to experimental research on human beings are contained in the Polish Constitution, which proclaims –the freedom of scientific research –freedom of all persons –respect for autonomous decisions on participation in scientific experiments (art. 39) Art. 39 of the Constitution: No one shall be subjected to scientific experimentation, including medical experimentation, without his voluntary consent Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights (binding to Poland) prohibits any medical or scientific experiments without a voluntary consent of a participant More detailed solutions are provided in the Act on the profession of a physician (Journal of Laws of 2008 No. 136, item 857)

11 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (9) Art. 18. 1.Where the law allows research on embryos in vitro, it shall ensure adequate protection of the embryo. 2.The creation of human embryos for research purposes is prohibited. So far the questions related to in vitro fertilisation have not been regulated in the Polish law The only reference in legislation: exclusion of this health service from public financing An on-going debate in Poland on the regulation of the scope of admissibility and principles for procreation assisted by this method

12 Oviedo Convention and Polish regulations (10) Art. 19-20. Organ and tissue removal from living donors for transplantation purposes The provisions of the Bioethics Convention and the Polish law are based on the same axiological system Act of 1 July 2005 on collection, storage and transplantation of cells, tissues and organs (Journal of Laws of 2005 No. 169, item 1411) –cells, tissues and organs may be collected from a deceased person, if one did not express objection before death –Polish provisions require a consent to be given each time by a living donor of cells, tissues and organs –no payment or other benefit may be either demanded or accepted for cells, tissues and organs collected from a donor

13 Summary The legal solutions presented are only a starting point in the process of adapting Polish legislation to the standards of the Oviedo Convention Some Polish regulations are in line with the provisions of the Oviedo Convention In some areas regulated by the Convention there are no domestic regulations Further work is thus necessary


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