Ethics and Legal Considerations of Genetic Testing

Genetic testing is ideally performed for many valid clinical purposes, including the diagnosis of existing genetic diseases, assessment of disease risks, prognoses of responses to drugs and identification of disease risks in unborn children (MedicineNet, 2002). Though valuable, genetic testing has created significant legal and ethical questions for the healthcare industry, including the Diagnostic Radiography field. Armed with advanced techniques for genetic testing, Diagnostic Radiologists are nevertheless forced to examine both the legality and the ethics of applying that technology. It is not logically possible to declare Genetic Testing per se ethical or unethical; rather, individual Genetics Testing procedures and the surrounding circumstances must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, the ethics of Genetic Testing is separate from the ethics of whatever actions are performed due to the testing results.

An Overview of Genetic Testing

Genetic testing is an immense category of...
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