Ethical Issues In Genetic Testing

Abstract

Genetic testing raises a host of ethical dilemmas—for the patient diagnosed with a genetic disorder, for her medical team, and even for the insurance company that provides her with coverage. This dissertation explores three ethical issues that arise in genetic testing. In the first Chapter, I explore whether patients who test positive for a genetic mutation are morally obligated to inform their at-risk relatives. I advance the discussion by developing a new account of patients’ duty to warn. Specifically, I argue that patients’ have a duty to warn that is grounded in the principle of rescue—the idea that one ought to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the risk of harm to another person when the expected harm is serious and the cost or risk to oneself is sufficiently moderate. In the second Chapter, I explore which considerations ought to bear on whether it is permissible for a provider to breach confidentiality in order to warn patients’ genetically vulnerable relatives. In the last Chapter, I argue that insurance providers should be required to cover in vitro fertilization with preimplantation genetic diagnosis for prospective parents who are at risk of passing a serious genetic disorder to their children. I present three arguments in support of mandated coverage.