social + ethical considerations

Question 1

first consideration - ethical

Answer 1

patient confidentiality + familial implications

Question 2

first example

Answer 2

A woman, 33 years old, wants to enroll in an executive health program which offers genetic sequencing, but is worried for her personal genetic information and its privacy
- implications of family if a genetic variant is found

Question 3

physicians + patient confidentiality

Answer 3

patients are generally very worried about the privacy of their genetic info, but physicians are also worried
- 80% of physicians reported they were somewhat or very concerned about their patients’ genetic info

Question 4

implications of related/at-risk parties

Answer 4

Non-consensual disclosure of patient information to relatives/at-risk parties if the following circumstances occur:
- harm is likely + serious
- the harm of genetic disorder outweighs the harm of disclosure
- under any other exceptional circumstances

Question 5

second consideration - social

Answer 5

precision medicine availability vs need in low/middle-income countries

Question 6

second example

Answer 6

example: cancer cases
- 70% cancer death cases occur in low-income countries
- disparities in cancer deaths: caused by diagnostic barriers + environmental/lifestyle factors
- genetics-based cancer care can significantly lower this, but it is scarcely available due to lack of available, regional-level healthcare

Question 7

high income vs low income countries

Answer 7

high income:
- access to all the latest approaches + increasing healthcare
- regional-level, large scale healthcare
- cost-effective
low income:
- lack of access to healthcare, always the last to receive newest technologies
- local, small-scale healthcare which is expensive, not always government regulated
- too expensive to afford