@Article{Świątkowska-Flis2026,
journal="Medical Studies/Studia Medyczne",
issn="1899-1874",
year="2026",
title="Human studies other than clinical trials: the role of a medical
therapeutic experiment in the Polish legal system",
abstract="In accordance with Polish law, doctors are entitled to conduct two types of medical experiments: research and therapeutic. The research experiment focuses on expanding medical knowledge, and it can be carried out in patients or healthy subjects. The participants in these experiments are not exposed to risk, or the risk is small and proportionate to the effects. By contrast, therapeutic experiments involve the use of new or only partially tested diagnostic, therapeutic, or prophylactic methods that can only be used if the existing methods are ineffective or provide insufficient efficacy. The aim of a therapeutic experiment  is to improve the health of a patient, and it may offer the only chance to improve or maintain the patient’s condition. A medical experiment must be approved by an independent bioethics committee. Herein, we provide an analysis of Polish legal documents and their relevance to medical experiments.",
author="Świątkowska-Flis, Beata
and Statowski, Wojciech
and Wójcicka, Małgorzata
and Flis, Michał",
doi="10.5114/ms.2026.161807",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.5114/ms.2026.161807"
}