Genetics & Disability Insurance Ethics, Law & Policy

The University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics and the University's Joint Degree Program in Law, Health &the Life Sciences will complete a comprehensive investigation of the ethical, legal, and policy issues in the use of genetic information in private and public disability insurance and to recommend policies based on our findings. To achieve the goals for this project, the investigators will convene an interdisciplinary working group comprised of some of the best U.S. scholars and experts working on ethical, legal, and social issues raised by genetics, insurance, and disability. The group will include members from the field of ethics, policy and law, social science, medical science, people who live with disabilities, and the insurance industry. The Working Group will convene four times during a two-year period. In conjunction with the group's third meeting, the investigators will host an invitational national conference on the ethical, legal and policy issues raised by genetic testing and disability insurance. Through these efforts, the investigators will clarify the issues; develop a consensus about effective responses; author a consensus paper with our recommendations; and produce the first comprehensive collection of articles on the issues to be published as a journal symposium.