Implementation of bioethics committees in Brazilian university hospitals: difficulties and viability

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present and discuss the process of implementation and functioning of clinical bioethics committees in the hospital complex of a Brazilian public university, with four of its hospitals having these commissions in different structuring stages: a general hospital; a psychiatric hospital; a children’s hospital and a maternity ward. For this, alternatives, difficulties, as well as the viability, are discussed for their implementation, in addition to practical recommendations in the form of steps, with accounts of experiences in Brazil and around the world. The aim of this report is to contribute to the bioethical reflection regarding the increasing ethical challenges arising from scientific developments in biomedicine. It is also the aim of this report to encourage the future development of bioethics committees in our country and the critical appraisal of this important item of ethical deliberation.