Ethical Inquiry Into Genetic Testing In Medical Context

Genetic diseases have long-term and serious effects of on individuals and population health; so far most genetic diseases could not be effectively treated. Early diagnosis and treatment through appropriate genetic testing are deemed to be of crucial significance. With the rapid progress of genetics, the genetic basis of various single-gene disorders and many other common diseases were found. Various types of genetic testing and screen are widely used in clinical medicine and public health practices, and help us effectively detect mutations of diseases. The use of genetic testing greatly facilitates the diagnosis and treatment of genetic diseases for individuals, also benefits families’ reproductive decisions and social health. In recent years, numerous genetic testing products and services has been emerging with direct sales to consumer through advertising beyond medical context without guidance of medical professionals and supervision of healthcare administration.Traditional medical genetic testing and screening had brought enormous health-benefits to society; meanwhile it generates a series of ethical issues. On the basis of above issues, emerging direct-to-consumer genetic testing had aroused lots of social controversies, and also raised ethical and governance issues. The purpose of this paper aims to discuss these issues from the ethical perspective, to formulate ethical framework for evaluating the decision we may make or decision we may take for minimizing the potential negative effects of the technique and maximizing its benefits, promoting a sound and smooth translation of the technique into clinical practices.This paper appealed to literature research method and expert interview method, it reviewed the background of genetic testing, clarified its definition and characteristics, summed up the development and governance status of genetic testing, and identified the ethical issues of genetic testing and screen. On basis of reviewing main ethical theories, ethical principles and norms of genetic testing and screening had been investigated, proposed ethical framework to evaluate the genetic testing decision-makings. During making ethical argumentation for or against various decision-makings in genetic testing, ethical issues had been demonstrated successively on individual, family and population based level.On individual level, risk and benefit of genetic testing had been introduced firstly, then clinical norm of genetic testing had been clarified, the potential risks of direct-to-consumer genetic testing had been pointed out, also the tension between individual autonomy and harm prevention had been deconstructed. On the family level, the evaluation between parents’ reproductive freedom and descendants’right and interest had been proposed. On the population and social level the rational standard of public health screening had been summed and the stress between informed consent and coercion in theory and practice had been studied. Subsequently, issues about result-feedback and privacy protection had been discussed, also included equity problems, issues about genetic discrimination, stigmatization and morality of inclusion.Genethics is an emerging interdisciplinary branch of bioethics; this paper tries to cross disciplines, applying ethical theories and principles to analyze practical issues of the new technology. It may help people across discipline barriers, to understand how the technology impacts on the ethical norms of social behaviors. This interdisciplinary attempt may also help people to give full play to the positive effects of the technology, while reasonably and effectively rein genetic testing through appropriate governance, to reduce risks and promote public health.