SUSAN B. APEL
Vermont Law School
Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2001
Abstract:
This article explores the issue of privacy in genetic testing. Much has been written on the right of employers and insurers to gain access to the results of genetic testing; this article focuses on an area that has received less attention in the current discourse--whether or not family members are entitled to know the results of an individual's genetic testing even over the individual's objection. The author notes that in most discussions of such family entitlement, gender differences are ignored, and that the structure of discussions that separate family and employer into exclusive categories are gender-based. The author then poses the question of whether granting families access to individual genetic testing results poses greater or different risks for women, and argues for consideration of gender in the formation of law and public policy on this issue.
The author begins by pulling together the positions on patient confidentiality taken by the American Medical Association and other professional medical associations, and includes reports of studies of physician practice and patient expectations The second part of the article summarizes the legal response to this issue. The final section brings together various empirical and other studies on breast cancer, HIV, and other medical conditions that impact women's roles in and relationships within families. The author concludes that, given the power of other illnesses and health-related issue to influence the incidence of domestic violence and alter existing family relationships for women, it is in women's best interests to adopt a conservative, perhaps absolutist, requirement of privacy.
JEL Classifications: I1
Accepted Paper Series
Abstract has been viewed 45 times
Contact Information for SUSAN B. APEL (Contact Author)
Email address for SUSAN B. APEL
Vermont Law School
P.O. Box 96
Chelsea Street
South Royalton , VT 05068
United States
802-763-8303 (Phone)
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