Genetic Testing Leaves More Patients Living In Limbo
Due to new technological breakthroughs, scientists have started using genetic testing more often. For example, if a patient has symptoms for a disease, but a doctor can't figure which disease, they may do a genetics test to see if it is a hereditary disorder. But, the problem is, that doctors are telling patients that they may have dangerous genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, although the patient shows absolutely no symptoms. After the doctors find out the possibility of a patient having a genetic disease, they track the patient for a while to make sure that the proper treatment is given. But, the problem is, that doctors are finding out that patients may have hereditary disease, but the patient shows no symptoms, so the doctors do not know whether to give the patients treatment, or track them and only treat the patient once they show symptoms for the disease. This is a major problem for many families. One example is four year old Laura Inestroza. She is believed to have a high chance of having cystic fibrosis, and the doctors found this out from her genetic test. But, when the doctors did another test, called the sweat test, which checks for the amount of chloride in your perspiration, the results turned up saying that she didn't have cystic fibrosis. This is an example of how the genetic testing is effecting families badly, because the Inestrozas don't know whether to tell people that their daughter is sick with cystic fibrosis or not, which is a problem when sending a child to day care, or any place where people need to know about a child's health problems. So, now due to genetic testing, there are many doctor patients forced to sit in waiting, and wait until they get symptoms for the diseases that they are diagnosed with from genetic testing. Although new medical technology can be effective in many ways, genetic testing isn't helping doctor patients very much at this point of time.
Due to new technological breakthroughs, scientists have started using genetic testing more often. For example, if a patient has symptoms for a disease, but a doctor can't figure which disease, they may do a genetics test to see if it is a hereditary disorder. But, the problem is, that doctors are telling patients that they may have dangerous genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, although the patient shows absolutely no symptoms. After the doctors find out the possibility of a patient having a genetic disease, they track the patient for a while to make sure that the proper treatment is given. But, the problem is, that doctors are finding out that patients may have hereditary disease, but the patient shows no symptoms, so the doctors do not know whether to give the patients treatment, or track them and only treat the patient once they show symptoms for the disease. This is a major problem for many families. One example is four year old Laura Inestroza. She is believed to have a high chance of having cystic fibrosis, and the doctors found this out from her genetic test. But, when the doctors did another test, called the sweat test, which checks for the amount of chloride in your perspiration, the results turned up saying that she didn't have cystic fibrosis. This is an example of how the genetic testing is effecting families badly, because the Inestrozas don't know whether to tell people that their daughter is sick with cystic fibrosis or not, which is a problem when sending a child to day care, or any place where people need to know about a child's health problems. So, now due to genetic testing, there are many doctor patients forced to sit in waiting, and wait until they get symptoms for the diseases that they are diagnosed with from genetic testing. Although new medical technology can be effective in many ways, genetic testing isn't helping doctor patients very much at this point of time.
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