“Bioethics and Biolaw – Modern Practices and Policies of the Future” was the theme of this year’s National Conference on Bioethics and Biolaw, organised by the Justice Development Foundation and supported by the legal information portal www.ChallengingTheLaw.com.
The event is taking place on 21 and 22 October 2016 at the premises of the New Bulgarian University.
The conference presents for the first time in Bulgaria topics which are new and still undeveloped in the country but are going through rapid development in Europe: legal and ethical limits on the forms of influence on the human neurological activity in achieving certain psycho-physical condition, qualities or abilities (neuro-ethics, neuro-law), legal recognition of the specific personality of intelligent robots (robo-ethics), and others.
Alexandra Tsvetkova, Director of LIBRe Foundation, presented “Medical Social Networks – Bio-ethical and Bio-legal Aspects” together with Maria Petrova, MD, JD, MPH, Medical Malpractice Attorney and leading expert at Lex Мedica – the only consultancy company in Bulgaria providing services in the field of medical law.
In their report on the topic, the authors find that a medical social network is theoretically defined as a website in which users could find health-related resources on different levels. The current reality builds upon this definition and nowadays, according to the type of network users, there could be recognized:
Patient social networks, e.g. support groups;
Social networks for professionals from various health-related fields;
Heterogenic social networks which see the participation of both patients, medical staff, volunteers, scientists, and others.
At the same time, social networks focused on sharing medical data hide various risks which are often unseen by the patients until a specific problem or case arises in relation with the data they publish.
An overview of the current wide-spread health-related platforms and networks in Bulgaria shows numerous faults in the representation and promotion of such websites, as well as significant gaps in several key areas:
Negligence or abuse of obligations and responsibilities within the scope of information society service providers;
Abuse of users’ citizen rights, more specifically in the field of privacy and data protection;
Liability of information society service providers with regards to user-generated content when the platform users act in their capacity as patients, medical specialists, or related parties (scientists, representatives of the pharmaceutical sector, the insurance sector, etc.)
Further to a detailed legal analysis of each of the aspects and the related social and ethical norms, the authors draw concrete recommendations for legal actions and future development.
LIBRe Foundation and Lex Medica will continue to develop our research in the crossing field between medical law and ICT law. Follow LIBRe’s News section and stay tuned for our upcoming Projects.
- Discussion 1 (in Bulgarian lnguage)
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6gdPsQr1_I&index=5&list=PLIZm6F2-xzz39iFdY9bBVsvfqBPLih-lx
