Arguments Against Genetic Testing

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One of the biggest issues that came from the Henrietta Lachs story and cells came with genetic testing. Why is this important? Utilizing information about an individual’s clinical, genetic, genomic, and environmental conditions, personalized medicine offers the possibility that internists will be able to predict which diseases are most likely to affect particular individuals, evaluate how those diseases will progress and determine the most appropriate treatment regimen. (Feldman, 2012) This might be a great idea and sound helpful to many, but there is a reason this may not be such a great thing. Genetic testing can show certain issues that may cause employers to raise the rate of insurance or discriminate hiring someone because they have …show more content…
Due to these worries many people will refuse to have genetic testing. These worries are not unfounded and led to Congress approving the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act in May 2008.(Feldman, 2012) GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) prohibits insurers from using genetic information to adjust group or individual premiums, deny coverage, or impose preexisting condition exclusions, and makes it illegal for them to require or request genetic testing or intentionally obtain genetic …show more content…
Lets be honest, most people would prefer to believe that racism isn’t an issue in our society and they will go to great lengths to ignore that it is. Empirical evidence is scarce and hard to interpret, but much public opinion and some scholarly analysis in the United States and the United Kingdom place racism at the hub of ethic and racial inequalities in health and health care. Health professions, governed by ethical codes that emphasis their humanitarian duties, find that charge that health care is racist hard to bear.(Bhopal, 1998) The previous quote was the best I could find in explaining why this information is so hard to come by. As far as reasons go, I understand why people feel this way and why they are so unable to speak of racial differences. My hope is that as we continue to strive towards equal health care for all we can open up and honestly speak about he issues that plague health care as it pertains to minority groups. Racism will only be overcome in the medical field if we acknowledge that people of different ethnicities and backgrounds often have differing perspectives and experiences that can impede and hinder medical treatment. Can anything good come from what we have

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