Bioethics-Testing for Genetic Disease

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If you get tested for a genetic disease and find you’ll have Huntington’s, what do you do? There is no cure for Huntington’s disease. It costs a lot of money to sustain a person suffering from Huntington’s. Does it help you to know? In some instances, it does help to know that you are at risk of a genetic disease. This is usually the case when there is a solution to preventing that disease, for example, colon cancer.

There is also the fear of genetic discrimination. Will insurance companies raise their fees based on the fact of you have a simple gene? Will you be denied a job because of it? Many states in the U.S. have legislation which gives some protection against genetic discrimination, but there is no federal legislation.

There is another matter of testing to see if one may be a carrier for a disease. Let’s say that a couple gets tested to see if they’re carriers for Huntington’s disease. They find out they are carriers, and the probability that a child would have Huntington’s is great. If they choose to have a child anyway and it ends up having Huntington’s disease, who will pay for the healthcare later in life? Is the fee to be placed on the government’s shoulders (taxpayer money)? Is it fair?