As a neurologist I have been consulted by family members at risk for HD, but effective counseling requires knowing what you'd do in similar circumstances, and my advice varies according to my mood. But once the lab test requisition slip is out of the drawer, there's no going back. I give lectures on medical ethics, but this isn't primarily about ethics. The issues are far too complicated to reduce to algorithm and logical priorities. We readily talk of Big Brother and whether having positive genetic testing will affect our ability to get health insurance, even be employed.
Politicians debate changing reporting laws.
Dire genetic predictions are more than death sentences sometime down the road. For many, the disease begins with the thought of the diagnosis, not with the first symptom. Let's listen to what some patients at risk for HD have to say. For a real jolt of pure dread, substitute in the diseases that run in your family. I was afraid.