Pros And Cons Of Undergo Genetic Testing

Should Patients Undergo Genetic Testing? The medical world has had many advancements in the past twenty years. Perhaps one of the most significant advances is the completion of the Genome Project. The Genome Project fully mapped a human’s entire DNA. This mapping opened up the world to many new ideas such as genetic testing. Genetic testing is looking at a person’s DNA for abnormalities in the sequencing. Testing can be done to tell whether the person is a carrier of that gene, will have that disorder, or the disorder is already evident (“Genetic Testing”). However, this testing is fairly new and should not yet be relied on. Genetic testing is not beneficial for patients and should not be performed. Knowing your chances of getting a

Most of the genetic testing today is done by private companies. These companies do not use doctors to read the results. Therefore, the tests may not be read correctly. These companies are creating a false sense of hope and panic in patients. A person who takes a genetic test for a type of cancer and receives a negative result may develop a false sense of security and forgo cancer screenings in the future (“Genetic Testing”). On the other hand, a person who receives a positive result may panic unnecessarily, even though they may not necessarily develop the disease (“Genetic Testing”). Not only do the readers of the results affects the test, but also the actual disease itself. Some genes when present mean 100% certainty that you will get a disease, while others may only raise your risk 5% when present (Caplan). There are varying degrees of severity and it is impossible to tell from just one single gene. Most fatal genetic disorders require many genes to have mutations in a specific order for the disorder to be present. This makes it extremely difficult to identify disorders from one simple genetic test. Most of the time the mutations in the gene are silent. This means that they don’t show up as mutated genes. The mutations have to occur in a specific sequence in order for a disorder to show up. These possible mutations are so numerous and many of it has yet to be discovered. Creating a test that accounts for all of these possible mutations is nearly inconceivable