Monday, April 2, 2012

Geneticists debate what to tell patients about clinical genome sequences

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/geneticists-debate-what-to-tell-patients-about-clincial-genome-sequences.html

This article talk about the fundamental question and debate in genome sequencing today. That is: "Should patients undergoing genome sequencing be screened for a minimum set of disease-causing mutations, and should adults and children receive different types of genetic results?" This article discusses how if patients do go in for genome sequencing, doctors will not only be able to detect basic mutations and alignments of there genes, but also more serve 'secondary findings' about diseases in the future (such as Alzheimer's). The problem doctors faced today is whether or not patients have a right to these secondary findings, especially since these findings do not accurately detect whether a patient will have the disease in the future. Some argue that yes, patients should have a right because it can save lives. Others argue that knowing the information will only cause the patient to worry constantly for no real reason.

Question: If the doctors discover a non-life threatening "secondary finding", should patients still be informed?

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