Ethics and medical genetics in the United States: a national survey

Abstract

The approaches of 295 medical geneticists in the United States to 14 clinical problems and 3 screening situations that required a moral choice are summarized. These data are part of a survey of 682 geneticists in 19 nations. Of 490 U.S. geneticists asked to participate, 295 (60%) returned anonymous detailed questionnaires. There was strong (greater than 75%) consensus that preserving the mother's confidentiality overrides disclosure of true paternity; that conflicting test results, new/controversial interpretations of results, and ambiguous/artifactual results should be disclosed; that artificial insemination by donor, adoption, taking chances, contraception, sterilization, and in-vitro fertilization with a donor egg should be presented as reproductive options to carriers of disorders not diagnosable prenatally; that prenatal diagnosis should be performed for patients who refuse abortion and for maternal anxiety in the absence of medical indications; that screening in the workplace should be voluntary. There was no consensus about disclosure of a diagnosis of Huntington disease or hemophilia A to relatives at risk, against the patient's wishes, or about disclosure of parental translocations. Geneticists in the U.S. differed from 18 other nations in presenting surrogate motherhood as an option (67%); willingness to perform prenatal diagnosis for sex selection or refer (62%); and disclosure of XY genotype in a female (62%). Men were more likely than women to say that they would give directive counseling. Women were more likely than men to say that they would perform prenatal diagnosis for maternal anxiety or for sex selection.