[Consequences for public hospital of the law of December 20th 1988 (Huriet law), concerning the protection of persons used for biomedical researches].

Does the public hospital have the capability of harbouring this research? In any case, it is an important mission entrusted to it by the Huriet law. But even before the law has come into effect (the date of applicability was initially set for January 1st 1990, postponed until June 1st 1990, and then further pushed back to December 31st 1990 due to the lack of publication of corresponding application decrees), its text has prompted many questions and much debate among numerous health sectors. We are limited in the extent to which we may estimate, within the context of the public hospital, the sphere of application and the ramifications of the Huriet law, particularly in the matters of expenses, the responsibility assumed by the hospitals' pharmacy, and the arrangement for the hospitals' management. In effect, while waiting for the expected creation of local committees for the protection of public health, the ethics committees which already exist in many hospitals carry on with their works in the spirit of this new law. The result is an accelerated awareness of the difficulties foreseen in putting this law into effect. It is these difficulties of application that we have tried to analyze.