This summer i started to work as clinical research coordinator job at a prestigious hospital of New York City. I was very thrilled and was looking forward to be part of some exciting research projects in medicine. The main project was a big initiative focused on building a registry with patients with IBD. The purpose of our study was to collect human specimens from patient who have the proper diagnosis as well as from healthy control. Being born and raised in another country I am self conscious that my exposure to American history and culture are limited and I try to catch up as much as I can. Although the story of Hennerieta Lacks is taught in the US early in academic curriculum, I was introduced to this name just recently. "Does this means I will be like Hennerieta Lacks?" said one of my patients as he was hesitant of signing the consent form. I gave him a polite smile, while I was not able to understand his comment. At that moment I didn't give it much though and I moved one to my daily routine. Until days later another patient mentioned how this reminded him of the hennerieta lacks story and how he might be "cloned too". Now I felt compelled to find out more about these common references I was receiving from my patients. I …show more content…
Despite the advancement in research and the frequency of utilization of genetic tests, and a more comprehensive understanding of genomics there is still concerns and intimidation about what the future might bring. In the registry I am currently working the samples we collect get stored indefinitely. My worry is that if a scandal breaks. That the patients will call to withdraw so their cells are destroyed. The is easier on a patient who is used as control rather than a patient with IBD whose life expentacy is effected by the disease. But lets think about a cancer patient who passed away from the disease.Their families have no say into either to store or destry the
In Rebecca Skloot’s article, she discusses the way people feel towards getting tested and worked on, when they hear that someone else might be making money off those scraps, or using them to uncover potentially damaging information about their genes and medical histories,” the people become infuriated (Skloot 2).
Recent developments in technology have changed the delivery of health care and the system used to record and retrieve health information. In addition to using paper medical records, healthcare professionals, hospitals and insurers routinely use computers, phones, faxes, and other methods or recording and transferring information. In many instances, this information - which could include medical diagnoses, prescriptions, or insurance information - is readily available to anyone (including clerical and other staff) who walks by a fax machine or logs on to a computer. This lack of privacy has the potential to undermine patients' relationships with providers and adversely affect the quality of care. Patients may also fear that the exposure of personal health information, including the results of genetic tests that are becoming increasing available, could result in the loss or denial of health insurance, job discrimination or personal embarrassment.
On the other hand, there is one hurdle that will constantly torment the CCFA, which is to find an effective cure for the IBD patients. For instance, the Broad Medical Research Program at the CCFA’s goal for the constituencies is to find a potential cure for the IBD patients, however, it has been 50 years and they continue to fall short of this goal. Of course there are drugs such as Entivyo, Humira, Remicaide and now Stelara, which helps with the symptoms of IBD, but
There are two main ways genetic testing places a constraint on a child’s right to an open future. The first of these is that the revelation of a child’s disease status can change his life narrative and the way parents and others treat him, and substantially alter his or her life’s trajectory (Davis _____). Parents may feel guilty or shelter their not-yet-sick
The inclusion of genetic testing into Electronic Health Records impacts the overall healthcare of patient’s because it informs the physicians and other medical professionals the selection of effective treatment or preventive action. A manager’s responsibilities are to implement policies to protect the confidentiality, privacy, and security of genetic tests results and information of patient’s. Policies contributing to potential discrimination acts are also advised because genetic/genomic testing reveals a patient’s physical characteristics.
It is patients’ right to opt for genetic testing on their own DNA, although they are accepting a great risk by doing so.
The Human Genome Project is the largest scientific endeavor undertaken since the Manhattan Project, and, as with the Manhattan Project, the completion of the Human Genome Project has brought to surface many moral and ethical issues concerning the use of the knowledge gained from the project. Although genetic tests for certain diseases have been available for 15 years (Ridley, 1999), the completion of the Human Genome Project will certainly lead to an exponential increase in the number of genetic tests available. Therefore, before genetic testing becomes a routine part of a visit to a doctor's office, the two main questions at the heart of the controversy surrounding genetic testing must be
When scientists are going to identify the type of cancer they need to do a genetic screening. Genetic screening is the process of going through the patient's genome to find the type of cancer. This reveals everything about the patient including other types of diseases they might have. People might feel that this lets the scientists know too much about the patient. The flaw with their totally legit argument is that before someone gets their genome sequenced, they must sign a waiver which gives the scientists consent and makes sure the patient understands what is happening.
Genetic information can be identified at any point throughout a person’s lifespan from pre-conception until after death. In addition to heritable, biological information, family history, genetic test results, and medical records are also sources of genetic information” (Jenkins & Lea, 2005). We are put in a position to gather and retain information that could be utilized for a better future, but is confidentiality involved for the sake of profiting? Ask yourself, who should have access to genetic information? Who owns and controls it? How can families resolve conflicts when some members want to be tested for a genetic disorder and others do not?
Although the gene chip will enable an individual to know whether he/she has a genetic disease, that person may not want to know the information. Many people are frightened that a positive finding on a genetic test will result in discrimination and ostracism because the society will consider them abnormal (Easthope 2005). The other concern is that with genetic test information one might lose or might be unable to get a job or insurance. There have been concerns that with the knowledge of one’s medical information after a gene test, he/she might suffer a psychological problem especially when the results reveal that one suffers from a terminal disease or has high possibility of suffering from one (Willis 2009).
genetic testing, everything has changed. She notes that clinicians now have the ability to diagnose, treat, and monitor a patient’s illnesses or disease progression in an entirely different manner. This is a far cry from the old medical model of responding to a disease (or defect) only after it appears, and then prescribing the recommended medication or intervention. These genetic medical advances sound miraculous and promising, but the ability to test, screen and provide early intervention does not come without many major ethical dilemmas.
Although genetic testing can benefit society in numerous ways, such as the diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited diseases and ancestry verification, it also has the precarious capability to become a tool in selecting a more favorable genetic makeup of an individuals and ultimately cloning humans. Genetic testing will depreciate our quality of life and may result in discrimination, invasion of privacy, and harmful gene therapy.
The Goal of the Human Genome Project is to obtain genetic mapping information and to determine the complete sequence of all human DNA by the year of 2005. The project started in 1990 and 180 million dollars are being spent on it annually. This adds up to a total of over 2 billion dollars for the 15 year budget. Of this 2 billion dollars budgeted, 5% is spent annually on the ethical, legal and social issues. This report focused on some of these issues.
The fear of genetic discrimination is a phobia gripping many people around the world. People find themselves asking, could my genetic information raise my health bills? Could this cause me to be rejected from a job opportunity? These anxieties are causing people to lash out at genetic research, and ultimately the human genome project. People do not want our understanding of human genomics to advance. This is because the risks of the development of the technology could inflict on them. A major risk is genetic discrimination. I believe that genetic discrimination is wrong and governments should continue to prevent it because it is an invasion of privacy, it violates equity, and it could really hurt people with genetic
Privacy is also another big issue surrounding the plans for a database. Chairman of the New South Wales privacy council says that the prospect of a genetic database is a “cavalier disregard for people’s privacy”