Results of a Genetic Test Be Used to Harm You

Could the Results of a Genetic Test Be Used to Harm You  

The Senate passed a bill in 2003 prohibiting discrimination based on the results of a genetic test, but the House of Representatives has not yet considered the issue. Although HIPPA strengthened the requirement to protect the privacy of personal medical information, including family history and results of genetic tests, an insurance company would know that the genetic test had been performed if it was asked to pay for it. 

The results of genetic tests can have an emotional and medical impact on a whole family. Physicians and genetic counselors work with the patient and the entire family to make sure the medical and social significance of the results is understood. As more genetic tests are developed and methods are established to reduce the inherited risk, the issue will have to be addressed, or people will avoid tests that might allow treatments to lengthen or improve their lives. 

Similar tests are also used to determine if a particular man is a child s biological father. DNA markers are inherited and when the child s DNA marker pattern is compared with the mother s and the alleged father s, it is easy to see whether the child inherited a marker that is not present in either the mother s or the man s pattern. If so, the man cannot have fathered the child. If the man is not excluded, using the same mathematical methods used for crime scene investigations, the scientist can provide an estimate of the chance that another man could be the child s father and could have provided the DNA marker pattern the child inherited from his father. 

---