Background Over the last few decades biobanks have been recognised as institutions that may revolutionise biomedical research and the development of personalised medicine. Poland, however, still lacks clear regulations regarding the running of biobanks and the conducting of biomedical research. While the awareness of the general public regarding biobanks is low, healthcare professions and medical students also lack basic knowledge regarding biobanks, and such ignorance may affect their support for biobanks. Methods This study is aimed at assessing the knowledge and attitudes of future healthcare professionals towards the donation of human biological material for research purposes and is based on a sample of 865 Polish medical students at Poznań University of Medical Sciences. Results This research has shown that the awareness of medical students’ regarding biobanks is low. It has also shown that while the majority of future healthcare professionals enrolled in this study supported the idea of biobank research and declared themselves willing to donate, still many students felt ambivalent about the biobanking of human biological material for research purposes and expressed concerns over biobanking research. While the primarily motivation to participate in biobank research was the desire to help advance science and to develop innovative therapies, the most common reason for a refusal was the fear that the government, insurance companies or employers, might have access to the samples. Concerns over unethical use of samples and data safety were also prevalent. More than half of students opted for a study-specific model of consent and only a few opted for broad consent. Conclusions This research suggests that a lack of knowledge about biobanks, their role and activities may affect medical students’ support for biobanks and their active participation in the collection and management of biospecimens for research purposes. Since in the future medical, nursing and pharmacy students will be involved in the collection, storage, testing and analysis of biospecimens from their patients, medical students in all professional fields should be trained regarding the concept, purposes and operational procedures of biobanks, as well as the ethical, legal and social implications of biobank research.

Streszczenie   Klauzula sumienia została wprowadzona do obszaru prawnych regulacji międzynarodowych w związku z uchwałą Rady Europy o nr 1763 z dnia 7 października 2010 r. Zgodnie z treścią dokumentu istnieje przyzwolenie odstąpienia od wykonania określonego świadczenia medycznego ze względu na zastrzeżenia moralne (religijne lub światopoglądowe) zgłaszane przez przedstawicieli opieki zdrowotnej.  W przepisach polskiego prawa medycznego powołanie się na zasadę klauzuli sumienia jest dozwolone, ale wyłącznie dla lekarzy, pielęgniarek i położnych. Farmaceuci są pozbawieni tej możliwości. Jednak wykonywanie niektórych czynności zawodowych budzi zastrzeżenia etyczne wśród farmaceutów. Autorzy artykułu postanowili zbadać opinię farmaceutów zarówno na temat klauzuli sumienia oraz określonych regulacji prawnych, które zdaniem respondentów powinny podlegać zmianom legislacyjnym.  Celem pracy jest zaprezentowanie wyników z przeprowadzonych badań, które zostały zrealizowane w 2020 r. na terenie Wielkopolskiej Okręgowej Izby Farmaceutycznej w Poznaniu.   Słowa kluczowe: wolność sumienia i wyznania, klauzula sumienia, farmacja, antykoncepcja, Polska

Background While healthcare professionals’ right to invoke the conscience clause has been recognised as a fundamental human right, it continues to provoke a heated debate in Polish society. Although public discourse is filled with ethical and legal considerations on the conscience clause, much less is known about the attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding that matter. The aim of this study was therefore to describe the attitudes of Polish physicians, nurses and pharmacists towards the ethical and legal aspects of the conscience clause. Methods We analysed a group of three hundred healthcare professionals: physicians, nurses and pharmacists in Poznan, Poland, using a standard questionnaire comprising of 29 questions about various ethical and legal aspects of the conscience clause and participants’ personal experiences with the conscience clause. The study was conducted between January and March 2020. Results This research shows that although most Polish healthcare workers support the right to invoke the conscience clause they differ significantly in their opinions on to whom and to what medical procedures the conscience clause should apply to. It also demonstrated that while the conscience clause is rarely invoked in Poland, most healthcare professionals declare that the current legal regulations in that sphere are unclear and inaccurate. Conclusions While there is an urgent need to raise the awareness regarding the conscience clause among medical students and healthcare professionals and educate them about such issues, it is even more important to improve the legal system in regard to the CC so that it protects both HCPs’ right to the CC and safeguards patients’ rights to medical services.

In Polish medical law, the conscience clause is understood as both a moral and legal norm which gives consent to selected medical professions (doctors, nurses, midwives, and laboratory technicians) to withdraw certain activities due to ethical objections. The explanation given for the conscience clause is not sufficient. There is no detailed information on the difference between compulsory and authorized benefits and the conditions for resignation from medical treatment. These problems not only lead to interpretational errors, but also to the abuse of law. Medical attorneys, among others, Andrzej Zoll, Mirosław Nesterowicz, Leszek Bosek and Eleonora Zielińska, present different opinions on the understanding of refusal to perform health care services by health care workers, and the lack of agreement leads to conflicts. In this article, I compare the views of ethicists and lawyers on the conscience clause. I present differences in the interpretation of medical law, and to all considerations I add my own opinion.

Background Pursuant to the Resolution of the Council of Europe No. 1763 of October 7, 2010, physicians, nurses and midwives may resign from performing medical activities for ethical reasons. In Poland, these provisions do not apply to pharmacists, therefore it is considered granting pharmacists the right to refuse dispensing a drug on the basis of conscientious objection.Objective The authors of the study decided to present the opinion of pharmacists (from the Greater Poland Voivodeship in Poland) on the conscience clause.Method The research was carried out on the basis of a self-developed questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was addressed to 105 pharmacists. The participants were asked 29 questions, 21 related to pharmacists' opinions on the conscience clause, and the remaining 8 related to demographic data.Results Responses were received from 100 pharmacists (74 women and 26 men, mean age 34 years). Most - 82 participants (82%) answered that they had never provided a service that was against their conscience. Nevertheless, 18 respondents (18%) expressed a different opinion.Conclusion Most pharmacists are against the conscience clause. Nevertheless, about one-fifth of the respondents were in the situation of providing the service against their own ethical reservations, therefore this topic cannot be ignored.

we wstępie do debaty pt. Kryterium wieku w racjonowaniu zasobów zdrowotnych zadaje pytanie, które odnosi się do stosowania alokacji usług zdrowotnych ze względu na wiek pacjenta.

According to the International Register of Organ Donation and Transplantation, Japan is one of the countries with the lowest number of registered deceased donors. In 2019, Japan was ranked 61st out of 70 countries. The authors of this article have decided to explore the reasons for this phenomenon. In the first part of the work, religious influences (Shinto and Buddhism), the tradition of gotai manzoku, the importance of altruism and the family in the perception of death and organ transplantation by the Japanese are considered. The second part of the article presents the arguments of Alan Shewmon, who believes that brain death is not death in the biological sense. Undermining the brain’s death criterion raises doubts concerning death of patients in irreversible coma, what in result discourages transplantology in Japan. In the third part, the authors compare the results of JOTN, IRODaT and the Fact Book of Organ Transplantation 2018 in Japan from 2010 to 2018. The aim of the article is to explain the cultural determinants of transplantology in Japan, taking into account the influence of philosophical and bioethical aspects of human death.

Szacunek dla autonomii kobiety ciężarnej a wolność sumienia lekarza. Etyczne konsekwencje odmowy wykonania świadczeń zdrowotnych przez pracowników służby zdrowia 2