Ethical issues in genetics

Clinical genetics encompasses all ethical issues in medicine and health care. Geneticists, like all health care practitioners, regularly encounter problems of truth telling, paternalism, confidentiality, and rationing. The facts and circumstances under which familial ethical questions arise differ among specialties, but the underlying ethical questions cut across disciplines. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the ethical issues that commonly arise in the clinical practice of genetics. Accordingly, the goal is primarily to identify common positions and justifications for various approaches as well as to identify consensus where they seem to exist.