Objectives: To study knowledge and attitudes of hospital ethics committee members at the first workshop for ethics committees in Croatia.Design: Before/after cross-sectional study using a self administered questionnaire.Setting: Educational workshop for members of hospital ethics committees, Zagreb, 2003.Main outcome measurements: Knowledge and attitudes of participants before and after the workshop; everyday functioning of hospital ethics committees.Results: The majority of the respondents came from committees with at least five members. The majority of ethics committees were appointed by the governing bodies of (...) their hospitals. Most committees were founded after the implementation of the law on health protection in 1997. Membership structure and functions were established on the basis of that law. Analysis of research protocols was the main part of their work. Other important functions—education, case analysis, guidelines formation—were neglected. Members’ level of knowledge was not sufficient for the complicated tasks they were supposed to perform. However, it was significantly higher after the workshop. Most respondents felt their knowledge should be improved by additional education. Their views on certain issues and bioethical dilemmas displayed a high level of paternalism and over protectiveness, which did not change after the workshop.Conclusions: The committees developed according to bureaucratic requirements. Furthermore, there are concerns about members’ knowledge levels. More efforts need to be made to use education to improve the quality of the work. Additional research is necessary to explore ethics committees’ work in Croatia especially in the hospital setting. (shrink)

After the events of 11 September 2001 and the anthrax letters, terrorism and bioterrorism have become the number one issue and motivation for all sorts of discussions and actions within the USA and in the rest of the world. Therefore, it is no wonder that bioterrorism and the threat of chemical weapons are prevalent issues in bioethical debates throughout the world and especially in the USA.In the Wake of Terror tries to give an American perspective on the most important bioethical (...) issues connected with terrorism and bioterrorism. The book is from the series Basic Bioethics published by the MIT press. The series editors …. (shrink)