Category: genetic testing
Doctor/patient confidentiality in genetic disease case – UK Human Rights Blog
‘ABC v St George’s Healthcare Trust and others [2020] EWHC 455 (QB). The High Court has ruled that the health authorities owed a duty of care to the daughter of their patient who suffered from the hereditary neurodegenerative order Huntington’s Chorea, to inform her about his condition. But in the circumstances, Yip J concluded that the duty was not breached and that causation had not been established.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 29th February 2020
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
Duty of care in genomic medicine: who is liable? – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Clinical Genetics is a field of medicine concerned with the probability of an indvidual’s condition having an hereditary basis. The journal Medical Law International has just published an article about the scope of potential duties of care owed by specialists in this field to people with heritable diseases. The authors draw out the features of genomic medicine that open the door to new liabilities; a potential duty owed by clinicians to third party family members, and another legal relationship that may be drawn between researchers and patients.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 3rd September 2017
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
Judge allows paternity test for DNA disease analysis – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Spencer v Anderson (Paternity Testing) [2016] EWHC 851 (Fam). A fascinating case in the Family Division throws up a number of facts that some may find surprising. One is that this is the first time the courts in this country have been asked to direct post-mortem scientific testing to establish paternity. The other is that DNA is not covered by the Human Tissue Act, because genetic material does not contain human cells. One might wonder why the statute doesn’t, given that DNA is the instruction manual that makes the human tissue that it covers – but maybe updating the 2004 law to cover genetic material would create more difficulties than it was designed to resolve.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 20th April 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Down the Rabbit Hole of Genetic Testing – UK Human Rights Blog
‘The explosion of genetic testing in the last half century has produced unquantifiable benefits, allowing scientists to understand the constitution of genetic disorders and dramatically improve disease diagnosis, avoidance and treatment. Consider the near-eradication of Tay-Sachs, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, since the introduction of screening in the 1970s; the standardisation of newborn testing; and the introduction of BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing for inherited cancer genes.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 19th April 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Genetic testing of children up for adoption – UK Human Rights Blog
“Y and Z (Children), 25 April 2013 [2013] EWHC 953 (Fam). Having children is a lottery. No judge or court in the land would sanction the regulation of childbearing, however feckless the parents, unsuitable the conditions for childrearing, or unpromising the genetic inheritance. Adoption on the other hand is stringently regulated, set about with obstacles for prospective parents, and strictly scrutinised by an army of authorities backed up by specialist family courts and a battery of laws, statutory instruments and guidance papers. Usually the filtering is in one direction only: the suitability of the parents to the child or children up for adoption. But sometimes it goes the other way, and this case raises the fascinating and somewhat futuristic question of whether children’s chance of finding a suitable home might be increased by genetic testing.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 26th April 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
FSA to ask consumers how much horsemeat they will accept in their food – The Guardian
“Consumers are to be asked whether they will accept traces of horsemeat in their food if it proves too costly and technically difficult to check thoroughly for levels of contamination under 1%.”
The Guardian, 5th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Should we outlaw genetic discrimination? – UK Human Rights Blog
“Earlier this month the Association of British Insurers announced the latest extension on the moratorium on the use of genetic test results for insurance purposes. But is this ‘Concordat’ sufficient protection? Genetic technologies are becoming increasingly available and profound questions are arising in relation to life and health insurance and employability as genetic screening becomes cheaper and widespread.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th May 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Equality Bill seeks to ban genetic discrimination – Daily Telegraph
“A ‘landmark’ measure to outlaw unfair genetic discrimination should be included in a new Equality Bill, the country’s leading human DNA watchdog will say tomorrow.”
Daily Telegraph, 13th September 2007
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
