Genetic Privacy: A Challenge to Medico-Legal Norms

Description

The phenomenon of the New Genetics raises complex social problems, particularly those of privacy. This book offers ethical and legal perspectives on the questions of a right to know and not to know genetic information from the standpoint of individuals, their relatives, employers, insurers and the state. Graeme Laurie provides a unique definition of privacy, including a concept of property rights in the person, and argues for stronger legal protection of privacy in the shadow of developments in human genetics. He challenges the role and the limits of established principles in medical law and ethics, including respect for patient autonomy and confidentiality. This book will interest lawyers, philosophers and doctors concerned both with genetic information and issues of privacy; it will also interest genetic counsellors, researchers, and policy makers worldwide for its practical stance on dilemmas in modern genetic medicine.

Graeme Laurie is senior lecturer in Law at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests include the role of the law in promoting and protecting science, medicine and technology. He is a co-director of SCRIPT (the Scottish Centre for Research in Intellectual Property and Technology) and convener of a World Health Organisation working group.

'Graeme Laurie, of Edinburgh University, has put together this intriguing book to consider this concentrated area of privacy involving genetics. ... This book is a fascinating contribution at a time when individuals are not only mindful of their privacy and security but are also fearful of those agencies who could exploit emerging knowledge to their disadvantage. All who have an interest in privacy, in both its general and specialised aspects, should read this book.' New Law Journal '... useful and timely text.' Legal Studies 'Laurie's meticulous scholarship has produced a book which will be compulsory reading for policy-makers and scholars in the burgeoning field of genetic privacy.' Bio-Science Law Review