Bioetika je do 1990-ih bila nepoznanicom u zemljama istočne Europe. Otvaranjem nakon pada komunističkih režima, međutim, spomenute zemlje rapidno poprimaju zapadnjačke trendove i modele bioetike, vodeći se zasadama georgetownskog Instituta za etiku Kennedyjevih – ni ne sluteći blizinu izvornosti bio-etike starog kontinenta. U radu se analizira bioetički status zemalja istočne Europe tražeći u njemu konture zanemarene europske intelektualne baštine. Sustavnim pregledom literature i terenskim istraživanjima postavljeni su temelji povijesne dinamike razvoja i premošćivanja biomedicinske etike zapadnog svijeta u bioetiku zemalja istočne Europe na razmeđu potterovske i Jahrove bioetike, bez poznavanja djela Fritza Jahra, no vodeći se njegovim temeljnim idejama.; Bioethics was unknown in Eastern Europe until the 1990s. After the fall of communism, however, these countries rapidly opened and embraced Western trends and models of bioethics, accepting the directives of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University – without even knowing the proximity of the original concept of bio-ethics in Europe. This paper analyses the bioethical status of Eastern European countries by looking at the contours of the neglected European intellectual heritage. By using a systematic literature review and field research, the foundations of historical dynamics of the development of bioethics in Eastern European countries have been established at the intersection of Potter’s and Jahr’s bioethics. Without knowing the work of Fritz Jahr, his basic ideas have been followed.