New York (eCanadaNow) - The usage of genetic testing reveals a lot of information. But sometimes, patients seem to fear that it reveals too much, or that the testing results will be stored and used against them, and so they avoid getting the tests they may otherwise need.
The availability of testing information is at the forefront of a debate on how results from testing and genetic lab tests are used. Personalized medicine benefits are being pushed aside among concerns that many of these genetic tests may hurt the individual being tested, or be used by companies to justify exclusion or lead to the lost of medical benefits.
Some doctors reveal that patients that might otherwise be saved if they knew the genetic risks are not taking the tests. They fear dire consequences or loss of medical coverage, and so they continue on in the dark, without knowing if in fact they suffer from or have certain tendencies that testing can reveal.
People that may otherwise openly get tested sometimes enter a sort of genetic underground. They may secretly get tested because of the fear of what open tests may reveal. Sometimes these people will spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on DNA and other genetic tests to try and avoid open scrutiny.
Sometimes doctors are pressured by patients with positive results to not reveal their condition to medical companies, and to not have their conditions noted in their records.
Such discrimination appears to be rare, and there are laws being proposed to outlaw such discrimination. But try to tell that to someone who has just been diagnosed with a disease that may cause them to lose their insurance.
For them, such discrimination or the threat of it is very real.
