L14 Ethical issues in Screening

Question 1

Forms of screening and testing

Answer 1

Routine procedures

• blood tests
• foetal anomaly scan

Nuchal fold scans
Amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling
Non-invasive pre-natal testing

Targeted antenatal screening and testing for genetically inherited diseases

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

Question 2

Public vs individual interests

Answer 2

Screening programmes are generally justified in terms of cost effectiveness, with the cost of detecting an affected pregnancy being offset against life time cost of caring for affected child

Question 3

Termination of pregnancy

Answer 3

Goal of screening programme is to reduce health costs related to disability => termination of pregnancy will be offered to women who test positive for the screened condition

Termination will fall under Section 1 of UK’s 1967 Abortion Act which permits abortion at any time if there is significant risk of the baby being born with a serious disability

Question 4

Common objections to screening

Answer 4

Discriminatory - presents particular types of individuals as not worthy of life-time expenditure

Demeaning to those born with the conditions possibly condemning them to lower levels of support thereby contributing to the social determinants of disability

Arbitrary - screening for what we can screen for rather than genuinely serious conditions