Primary Care Clinicians and the Dilemmas of Genetic Testing

Part 6: Conclusion

We began this essay with references to genetics revolutionizing medicine. Most experts who speak of this revolution are referring to a revolution of biotechnology and information science that would make medicine even more highly technological than it is today. While this may come to pass, what we hope to convey in this program is that genetics also has the potential - paradoxically - to reinforce the humanistic, empathic and communicative aspects of clinical care. Clinicians will conceivably become more aware of their patients' values, and more aware of the family, religious and social structures within which these patients live their, still very unpredictable, lives. Genetics will revolutionize medicine. It will send it back to its roots; back to its future.

- Larry Amsel, Diane Dreher, Bruce Jennings, and Erik Parens,
The Hastings Center

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