Virtual Mentor. September 2009, Volume 11, Number 9: 649-743. Full Issue PDF

September 2009 Contents

Ethical Questions in Genetic Testing

Ethics Poll

Huntington's disease is transmitted by a dominant gene. If you have the gene, you will get this degenerative neurological disease during your middle age if you do not die from another cause first. If one of your parents has Huntington's disease, you have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene, and hence the disease. If one of your parents had Huntington's, would you be tested to see whether you had the gene?
Yes.
No.

A young man whose mother has Huntington's disease is engaged to be married. Does he have an ethical duty to his future spouse to be tested for the disease before they marry?
Yes.
No.

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In the procedure called in vitro fertilization, an egg and sperm are united in a petri dish, and resulting embryos are implanted in the woman's uterus. In the procedure call preimplantation genetic diagnosis, those embryos can be analyzed for disease and other traits (such as sex) before they are implanted. Which of the following best describes how you think preimplantation genetic diagnosis should be used?
Parents-to-be should be allowed to select for or against implanting embryos with any traits that the test can detect, e.g., sex, severe disease, mild impairment, physical appearance.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis should be used to detect health-related traits only, but not such traits as sex, lower-than-average intelligence, or physical appearance.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis should be used to detect severe or life-threatening diseases only, and then parents-to-be should be allowed to decide whether the embryo is implanted.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis should not be used at all.

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From the Editor in Chief

If You Build It
Audiey Kao
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:652.

From the Editor

Examining the Benefits and Harms of Genetic Information
Bennett William Clark
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:653-655.

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

Duty to Warn At-Risk Family Members of Genetic Disease
Commentary by Anne-Marie Laberge and Wylie Burke
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:656-660.

Presymptomatic Testing of Children for Huntington’s Disease
Commentary by Robert Klitzman, Roberto Andorno, and Leon Dure
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:661-672.

Evaluating Requests for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
Commentary by Anam Pal and Lubna Pal
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:673-677.

Medical Education

What Is the Role of Nongeneticist Physicians, and Are They Prepared for It?
Kelly E. Ormond
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:678-682.

The Code Says

AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions on Genetic Testing
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:683-685.

Journal Discussion

Conscientious Objection: A Medical Student Perspective
Ariel Williams
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:686-689.

Clinical Pearl

Capturing the Power of the Family History
Tali Geva and Ora Gordon
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Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:690-696.

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

A Physician’s Duty to Warn Third Parties of Hereditary Risk
Kristin E. Schleiter
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:697-700.

Policy Forum

Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genome Services: Need for More Oversight
Emily E. Anderson
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Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:701-708.

Emerging Dilemmas in Newborn Screening
Don B. Bailey, Jr., Debra Skinner, Myra I. Roche, and Cynthia Powell
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:709-713.

Medicine and Society

Getting Personal with DNA: From Genome to Me-Ome
Shane K. Green and Mike Spear
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:714-720.

Op-Ed and Correspondence

Op-Ed

Informed Consent and Prenatal Testing: The Kennedy-Brownback Act
Adrienne Asch and David Wasserman
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:721-724.

Unethical Protection of Conscience: Defending the Powerful against the Weak
Bernard M. Dickens
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:725-729.

Resources

Suggested Readings and Resources
PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:730-740.

About the Contributors
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2009; 11:741-743.