ABOUT US

The Lithuanian Bioethics Committee The Lithuanian Bioethics Committee (LBEC) is an institution which is responsible for the protection of human rights and dignity in the field of health care. It was established at the end of 1995 following the Law on the Lithuanian Health Care System. The Committee operates according to the decree of the Ministry of Health issued on the 27th of December, 1995. LBEC has been appointed by the Minister of Health. It consists of 17 members, half of them medical professionals and the rest non-medical specialists (lawyer, ethicist, philosopher, psychologist, theologian etc.). Appointment is based on expertise and experience in the field of biomedical ethics. The chairman was elected by majority vote during the first meeting of the committee. LBEC has its own budget to support a small administrative staff and cover the expenses of its main activities. LBEC meets almost every month on an ad hoc basis.   "Lithuanian Bioethics Committee 1995-2005" Taking into account the limited number of people working in the field of ethics and philosophy of health care in our country, LBEC takes responsibility for these two broad areas of activities (even though these tasks are usually taken on by separate national bodies in most Western countries): to inform and educate the biomedical community and general public on moral dilemmas arising in the context of modern health care. In particular the issues dealt with are : informed consent; privacy and confidentiality; reproductive rights; ethical issues of genetics; abortion; death and dying, palliative care; refusal of life-sustaining treatment and euthanasia; ethical issues of biomedical research; involuntary treatment; decisions on behalf of the mentally handicapped; ethical issues of organ procurement and transplantation; allocation of scarce resources; to protect patients’ rights in the fields of biomedical research and clinical practice as well as to coordinate the ethical review of research protocols in Lithuania. These objectives are accomplished by two networks of ethics committees: regional research ethics committees and ethics committees in the largest Lithuanian hospitals. LBEC is responsible for methodological support for regional and local ethics committees, for organizing workshops and conferences as well as translating, publishing and disseminating relevant material on biomedical ethics within society and the biomedical community. As a consulting body LBEC also takes part in the process of health care legislation related with ethical issues.