Genetic Testing Effects

The Effect of Genomic Testing on Families and Individuals
Genetic testing has given scientists and doctors much knowledge into the way disease processes work and has improved the efficacy of treating them. While there are many positive outcomes with genetic testing, there are also some negative ways families and individuals can be impacted. Some ethical dilemmas involving family and genetic testing are: should newborn testing be mandatory or voluntary, do parents have the right to make the decision to have his/her child get genetic testing in adolescent and adult onset conditions, and is the risk to benefit ratio balanced with these tests (Holaday, 2004). In newborn genetic screening the main issue is whether it should be a voluntary

Testing a high-risk infant or child can benefit them in many ways. According to Ross, Robertson, and Savulescu, “Potential benefits to the child include increased self knowledge that allows better psychosocial adjustment, decreased anxiety and uncertainty about the future, the elimination of potential environmental risk factors, and more openness about genetic conditions within the family” (as cited in Holaday, 2010). The family can mentally and physically prepare for the condition, and this can benefit both the child and family in the future. In contrast, a child with positive test results may have a negative reaction. There may be reduced self-esteem and other psychological problems, a feeling of altered treatment from parents in the form of restrictions,favoritism, or neglect (McGovern, Rosen, Wallenstein,

One of the criteria for adult onset testing is that the patient be old enough to fully understand what the test is, the risks, and be able to participate in making decisions with his/her parents and the healthcare team. The ethical debate lies with the potential psychosocial side effects that may occur that were also an issue with genetic testing of conditions with late childhood/adolescent onset (Holaday, 2010). An example of a condition with late adult onset is Huntington’s Disease. There has been much controversy with testing this certain condition being there is no treatment available. A study was conducted for a group of twenty-one people that were tested positive for Huntington’s Disease. They were asked to discuss their reaction to learning of Huntington’s Disease in the family and age testing, the time that one must live with this knowledge, and making reproductive decisions. The overall attitudes of participants regardless of age was accepting to their results. The younger participants stated the test either had a positive or little to no effect on his/her lives, and helped with the decision to not reproduce. Follow up studies would need to be conducted in order to see if the participants still felt this way in the future (Chapman,