Why are the ethics of genetics important in medicine?
Ethics Although there is no single ethical issue that unifies the field of genetics, informed consent, confidentiality and the potential for social harm and psychological distress are issues that physicians involved with testing should understand. The case examples illustrate the 2 issues, consent to genetic counselling and confidentiality, that family physicians are most likely to be confronted with when managing patients in whom family history or genetic testing may provide valuable genetic information. Informed consent, which must be obtained before genetic tests are conducted, requires that patients participate in health care decisions. Obtaining informed consent to genetic testing is particularly challenging in view of the complexity of genetic information, the controversial nature of clinical options such as abortion or prophylactic surgery of unknown efficacy, and the social and psychological implications of testing.4,5 Positive genetic test results are rarely accompanied by the
