Scottish Council on Human Bioethics

http://www.schb.org.uk

Developments in health technologies have stimulated considerable public debate around complex end of life issues, advance directives and withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging and life-sustaining treatment. Similarly, rapid advances in the areas of human fertilisation, pre-implantation genetic testing, stem cell research and the cloning of human embryos have raised a series of complex bioethical questions.

Against this challenging background the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics was formed in 1997 in order to provide a Scottish perspective on the issues. It is an independent, non-partisan, and non-sectarian organisation composed of doctors, lawyers, psychologists, ethicists and other professionals from disciplines associated with medical ethics. As such, the SCHB functions as a multi-professional network with access to a range of specialist expertise and working groups.

The prinicples to which the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics subscribe are set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly by resolution 217A (III) on 10 December 1948.

Core Purposes

1. To collect and evaluate evidence and information relating to ethical issues in medicine from which to inform public debate in Scotland.

2. To engage, assist and advise Scottish legislators, fellow professionals and other interested parties with ethical analysis in medicine and comment on these issues.

3. To respond to media interest in Scotland by the release of relevant and reliable information and comment.

4. To encourage Scottish society to engage in ethical discussions of relevant topics in medicine and biology.