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This paper deals with a series of legal cases in Italy, Germany, and Austria, between September 2019 and December 2020, which ruled that laws prohibiting or restricting assistance in suicide were unconstitutional. There are similarities between these three cases, all of which are influenced by the practice of assisted suicide in Switzerland, but also differences, not least because of the antecedent legal contexts. Each case is based on flawed reasoning. They have in common an exaggerated account of autonomy or self-determination, insufficiently qualified by the duty to protect human life or by other ethical constraints. The Italian and Austrian Courts also appeal to the principle of equality and to a supposed analogy with refusal of life-sustaining treatments, both of which raise concerns in relation to further expansion of the provisions. In responding to these flawed judgements, legislators should favour proposals that prevent the normalisation of assisted and non-assisted suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomedical research and international collaborations in biomedical research become more and more important — economically and politically, making harmonised legislation for human research subject protection indispensible. The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine is the first binding contract under international law to protect human rights in the field of biomedical research. Almost 10 years after its entry into force neither Germany nor Austria have signed or ratified the Convention. Research involving incapacitated adults is one of the key issues in this context. This paper analyses the Convention and other European, US and international legislation, focusing on research involving incapacitated adults in “non-therapeutic” trials. It shows that a ban of “non-therapeutic” research involving incapacitated adults leads to an unjust exclusion of this patient group, leading to uncertainty and disadvantages in medical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human subject abuse and patient harm through medical research have led to the establishment of Institutional Review Boards (IRBS or Research Ethics Committees (RECS )), who independently scrutinise research protocols. In the field of trials with medicinal products as well as trials testing medical devices, an obligation for submission prior to realisation is granted within Europe through European directives. However, regulation of other fields of health-related research, e.g., psychological trials, public health and epidemiological studies or healthcare research is the responsibility of EU Member States; and European laws differ widely. The article gives an overview of European regulations in the field of REC review requirements, critically analyses Austrian legislation in this field and describes an institutional solution for legislative gaps in Austria - the Research Committee for Scientific and Ethical Questions (RCSEQ). Finally, important European initiatives for the future are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical discussion of the recent First Section and Grand Chamber judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S.H. and Others v. Austria, which upheld an Austrian ban on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) using donor gametes (ova and sperm). The author argues that the regulatory regime adopted by Austria is overbroad insofar as the regime it adopts fails to accurately reflect the legitimate interests of the state. This is not a conventional "controversial morals" case where, in the absence of a clear moral and/or policy consensus among the Council of Europe member states, states are properly accorded a wide margin of appreciation. The regime adopted by Austria embodies a clear sex bias (with their respective gametes standing as near perfect proxies for the sex of the applicants) with exceptions being made to address male infertility while leaving women without medical remedy, As such, the margin of appreciation should be significantly restricted and the classifications embodied by the regime subject to the highest possible scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]