The convention of human rights and biomedicine revisited: Critical assessment

The European Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine is the first binding international document that provides a general juridical and ethical framework on medicine and scientific investigation. In this sense, it represents a major effort from the Council of Europe member states, which has proved to be a daunting task to achieve. Nevertheless, this convention leaves many empty spaces and gives rise to some discrepancies. Probably it could not have been in any other way. After all, medical law and bioethics configure an enormous vast domain and it is difficult to create a broad and harmonised regulation for these fields, especially when facing so many different legal orders and divergent ethical and juridical values. The aim of the present study is to offer a critical perspective on the European Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine with the objectivity gained from having a 15-year gap after its entry into force.