The Use of Genetic Testing in Healthcare
The technology has improved making anything nearly possible to perform primarily within the healthcare sector where heart transplant is possible and other medical activities (Hillman et al. 6). Man is now ready to perform some important activities that might be impossible to accomplish without the assistance of technology like genetic testing.
Benefits of Genetic Testing
Genetic testing may be a medical test which will identify any changes within the proteins, chromosomes, and genes. The test mainly looks at any abnormalities within the DNA sequence of a private to assist in provisions of possible solutions to a condition.
Preventing Inherited Illnesses
There has been an excellent discussion on whether this technology should be used there has been a positive side for the utilization of the technology. Firstly, when a couple wants to start a family and one family has an issue with inherited illness. Primarily, some individuals are carriers of certain gene, which might not show in them but in their off springs (Fogleman et al. 48). This is possible because some genetic disorders are recessive and they only express themselves if an individual inherits both traits prom each parent. Importantly, if a person inherits the gene from one parent he will have 50% of passing the gene to his child, but the symptoms will be recessive on him or her (Hillman et al. 8). Through, genetic testing the professionals will be able to identify such deficiencies and control such condition before a child with weak genes is born.
Screening for Abnormal Conditions
Secondly, if a standard screening indicated an abnormal result. People conduct screening tests to identify the status of their pregnancies. Some tests suggest that there might be a genetic problem that requires genetic testing to control (Fogleman et al. 42). Through genetic testing, the healthcare professionals will be able to monitor the condition before it can be passed down to the child. This is one way in which genetic testing has helped in preventing some genetic disorders from occurring. Moreover, in situations where a woman has had several miscarriages genetic testing is advisable to identify the severe chromosome defect in the fetus (Hillman et al. 4). Some chromosomes are responsible for the spontaneous miscarriages while others are because of genetic problem. Through genetic testing, physicians can control the problem and avoid loss of life that can be prevented.
Concerns and Ethical Considerations
Some proposers to genetic testing argue that it will bring about offspring's who are genetically stable, as science and not nature would have influenced their genes (Fogleman et al. 36). This means that they would be prone to disease than the healthy child whose genes were not altered. Living in a world where mother nature mainly dictates the future outcomes of some actions by man it is hard for an offspring born through genetic alteration to live a healthy life compare to one who was normally conceived.
Conclusion
In conclusion, genetic testing has been a significant milestone in the prevention of some of the genetic disorders from being transferred to a child at birth. It has helped health care physical in preventing some complications making life easy for some parents who have genetic issues. This means they can give birth normally and their kids have a healthy life free of genetically inherited conditions. However, the practice is subject to some disadvantages as proposers of the genetic testing state that the practice will result in offspring who are genetically weak. Consequently, they will be prone condition Mother Nature has to provide as their gene were altered. This has given the practice a major setback, but studies are still going on to identify mechanism on how to overcome the barrier.
Works cited
Fogleman, Sarah et al. “CRISPR/Cas9 and Mitochondrial Gene Replacement Therapy: Promising Techniques and Ethical Considerations.” American Journal of Stem Cells 5.2 (2016): 39–52.
Hillman, S. C., et al. "Prenatal exome sequencing for fetuses with structural abnormalities: the next step." Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology 45.1 (2015): 4-9.
