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Explain the benefits and consequences of genetic testing? What is your personal stance on genetic testing?
| Subject | Nursing | Pages | 2 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Benefits and Consequences of Genetic Testing
In the modern world, people continue to benefit from the rapid growth in science and technology. Each day, one is likely to witness or hear about new discoveries and developments in these fields. Genetic testing is one the major areas that continues to grow and advance. It is an essential science that fosters prevention initiatives for genetically vulnerable individuals and provides them with new ways of managing diseases. Additionally, it is a concept that continues to influence human ethics due to its benefits and limitations. Although genetic testing has numerous benefits, its uncertainties can lower the quality of life thereby causing discrimination, psychological burden, and abortion.
Genetic testing is beneficial regardless of whether results are negative or positive for a gene mutation. Bradley (2005) noted that the science provides people with a sense of relief from uncertainty and assist them decide on how to manage their health care. Precisely, negative results eradicate the need for many examinations and screenings tests while positive results can direct people towards necessary prevention, monitoring, and treatment alternatives. For instance, genetic testing can enable people to decide on whether to have children or not. Moreover, newborn screening helps in early detection of genetic diseases so that appropriate medication or treatment can be administered.
Despite these benefits, genetic testing is associated with various consequences. First, the procedures involved in conducting prenatal testing can cause abortion or miscarriage because they require samples of amniotic fluid that must be around the fetus. Genetic testing can also cause social, emotional, and financial consequences to people. In particular, individuals may feel anxious, depressed, or guilty about their test results (Krause, 2019). Moreover, results from the process can create rifts in families since they can disclose more information about the person that the members of the family did not know. The testing has also, in some cases, contributed to discrimination in insurance or employment.
Genetic testing is a beneficial development that discloses changes in people’s genes that can cause disorders, as well as, genetic factors that increase the occurrence of such diseases. While many limitations have been attributed to genetic testing, it is evident that the benefits outweigh limitations. Therefore, pediatricians and healthcare practitioners should provide parents with vital information on the limits of genetic knowledge and treatment capacities, together with the possible dangers that are likely to emerge when they gain genetic information.
References
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Bradley, A. N. (2005). Utility and limitations of genetic testing and information. Nursing standard, 20(5), 52-56. Krause, A. (2019). New genetic testing technologies: Advantages and limitations. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 109(4), 207-209.
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