The progress of medicine and biomedical sciences has always followed the
progress of other natural sciences. However, during the mid-20th century, numerous
technological achievements and innovations have increased its influence on medicine which
inevitably led to changes in patient-doctor relations and arose numerous legal and ethical
problems. These new and often contested relations in medical profession and patient care
can be successfully solved only through a teamwork of experts from fields of medicine, law
and bioethics.
In this review we explain the terms “bioethics” and “medical law” and point to certain
aspects of their interrelation. Particular attention is drawn to medical law which has
emerged as a separate discipline of legal sciences and a separate branch of law in the past
few decades. Medical law includes all legal aspects of scientific activities, subjects, relations
and procedures associated with certain legal effects and represents a collection of various
rules from different aspects of law which govern relations in scientific activity.