Biobanks are promising instruments of biomedical research, but ethical, legal and social issues have led to a more critical review of them. By focusing on the concept of trust, this book examines a wide variety of ELSI-debate issues confronting biobanking.

What is the situation of people who are unable to make decisions due to a physical or mental change? This book gives impulses and answers to many ethical, economical and mainly legal questions which arise and are associated with the end of life. A universal human rights approach and the analysis of the relevant European law are put in front of the presentation of the national legal situations in Italy and Germany. The most topical and controversial issues concerning advance care planning are presented as well as a transnational economic analysis on the effects of advance care...