Reassessing Health, Normality, and Confidentiality

As we learn more and more about the genetic causal factors for various diseases, there will in many cases be a shift to explaining these diseases in terms of genetics. First, this project will trace the conceptual connections underlying these shifts and to assess their justifications. Second, the project will examine some of the ethical and policy consequences of these shifts. Specifically, the project team will:
- examine the impact of the new genetic information on our understanding of health, normality, disease causation, and explanation;
- articulate assumptions in medical genetics about disease causation, explanation, and normality, especially in diagnoses of genetic susceptibility, and compare them with the assumptions about causation and normality embodied in legal theory, case law, and statutes;
- analyze the legal and practical consequences associated with greater awareness of genetic susceptibilities, assess the related policy options, and formulate model legislation; and
- examine the impact of changes in medical diagnoses and medical explanation arising from the HGP on the traditional conception of confidentiality.