Genetic studies have quite advanced over the last few years. Medical and biological researchers have made it possible for people to acquire precise information on their genetic makeup. Genetic testing is rapidly growing, and the health industry is contemplating using the approach as a preventative mechanism. Biologically, this development is a great success because it makes it easy to analyze the human genome for education purposes. On the other hand, the understanding of various human genomes does not amount to much in medicine unless that information helps solve a medical dilemma (Batshaw, Roizen, and Lotrecchiano 75). So far, the knowledge of a person’s genetic makeup only allows the medical officials to predict possible conditions but do not provide solutions. It is, therefore, difficult to argue the importance of genetic screening in medicine at this point.
Universal screening for the genetic syndrome is not a wise investment now. As mentioned earlier, understanding and the ability to identify a person’s genetic makeup is only relevant in medicine if it can solve a medical dilemma. Rather than investing in universal screening, medical practitioners should conduct more research to determine the possible solutions and treatments to the medical issues arising from genetic screening. So far, genetic screening only complicates matters for patients and puts both the practitioners and patients in an impossible dilemma. For instance, a genetic screening process can indicate that a person is in danger of developing breast cancer. Batshaw, Roizen, and Lotrecchiano (54) assert that other than the warning, the screening does not offer an ideal solution to the matter thus presenting patients with an impossible situation. Practitioners, on the other hand, find themselves in a fixed situation for lack of enough information to advise or counsel their patients. For this reason, investing in universal genetic screening is not a wise investment at all unless there is more information about the course.
I would not want to know my genetic makeup if it only complicates my life without offering any solutions. Such information can destroy a person’s life radically. Most of the genetic conditions detectable by genetic screening are hereditary. In this case, a couple diagnosed with a hereditary condition might choose not to have children in which case the information will have altered their lives negatively. The screening does not provide accurate information regarding the probability of passing the genetic conditions to the offspring. In addition, the testing can be inaccurate or offer false results, which inspire people to make undesirable options. According to Batshaw, Roizen, and Lotrecchiano (61), such discrepancies and uncertainties make the entire process of human genome screening unnecessary.
Genetic testing conflicts with medical ethics in many areas. Medical ethics allows screening of conditions only if those conditions have an already existing effective cure. Most of the conditions detectable by genetic testing do not have an effective cure. Even in newborn screening, an area where genetic testing is excelling, parents opt to terminate the pregnancy for lack of a better solution to their condition. In addition, the information presented by genetic testing makes some people develop anger, anxiety, and depression (Batshaw, Roizen, and Lotrecchiano 112). The duty of the medical department is to make people feel better and offer hope to hopeless situations. It becomes hard to offer consolation to a person whose genetic makeup indicates high chances of developing cancerous tumors. In General, doctors and other medical practitioners should only do a genetic test on conditions with possible solutions to prevent unnecessary falls out on patients.
Works Cited
Batshaw, Mark L., Nancy J. Roizen, and Gaetano R. Lotrecchiano. Children with disabilities. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub, 2013. Print.