Physician scientist: clash of patient rights and principles of conducting research

Conducting scientific research, learning about the etiology of diseases, and searching for new methods of treatment are undoubtedly the basis of medicine. For centuries, a doctor has been a person who not only treated people, but also conducted scientific research aimed at deepening the knowledge about man. Due to the development of genetics, the pharmaceutical industry, and biobanks, this research has become mass and sometimes it is only human biological samples that are sufficient to carry it out. All this, undoubtedly, enables faster development of science, but puts a doctor in an extremely difficult situation of playing two roles, i.e. treating the patient and conducting scientific research using one’s biological material. In medical law, it has been emphasized for years that the basis of the relationship between a doctor and a patient is a special type of trust, which is systemically protected both by national and international legislature. The doctor is, therefore, obliged to act for the benefit of the patient. There is no doubt, however, that when conducting scientific research, a doctor sometimes faces the rivalry of patient rights, including the right to privacy and the right to freedom to conduct research. Both European and national lawmakers seem to notice these problems only partially, and only partially regulate the issue in question in both medical and personal data protection law. The subject of the reported research was analysis of the European and Polish law in terms of determining the extent to which this conflict of interests affects the patient’s rights and the doctor’s duties. In addition, the subject of analysis was to determine whether the person who gave a biological sample to the doctor to conduct research on it is always a patient and what consequences for the doctor’s legal liability this research on human biological samples has.