In medicine, this basic principal dictates that informed consent of the individual is necessary before performing most medical tests and procedures. Most states, however, require newborn screening for all infants.
Parents can only refuse testing under narrowly defined circumstances, if at all.
Washington only recognizes parental religious tenets or practices as legitimate basis for refusing the screening. The reasoning for this is similar to that which requires schooling for all children, i.e., the benefits to the child and society are so compelling, and the risk so small, that parents should not be allowed to deny their children an education. The benefits realized when a child is spared severe, lifelong disability or death through newborn screening are certainly clear enough. However, in the process of screening for hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease, some test results do not provide benefits that are nearly so clear nor so compelling. Screening for hemoglobinopathies coincidentally identifies a host of abnormalities of the hemoglobin molecule.