Prescribing Our Future: Ethical Challenges in Genetic Counseling

Genetic counselors translate the findings of scientific investigation into meaningful accounts that enable individuals and families to make decisions about their lives. This collection of original papers explores the history, values, and norms of that process, with some focus on the value of nondirectiveness in counseling practice. The contributors; examination of genetic counseling issues serves as a foundation from which to address other ethical, legal, and policy considerations in the expanding universe of clinical genetics.

Dianne M. Bartels is Associate Director, Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota. A member of the University of Minnesota’s Biomedical Ethics Committee since 1982, she is also a founding member of the Minnesota Network of Institutional Ethics Committees. She is a coauthor of Beyond Baby M: Ethical Issues .in New Reproductive Techniques. Bonnie S. LeRoy is a Genetic Counselor, Director of the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling, and Associate of the Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota. Her interests include psychosocial, ethical, and legal issues in genetic counseling. She has published numerous journal articles. Arthur L. Caplan is Director, Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota. A professor of Surgery and Philosophy, he is the author of numerous books and over 300 journal articles. Among his most recent books are If I Were a Rich Man Could I Buy a Pancreas, and Other Essays on Medical Ethics; When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust; Scientific Controversies; and (is a coauthor) Beyond Baby M: Ethical Issues in New Reproductive Techniques.