The value of information and the ethics of personal-genomic screening.

Abstract

Personal genomic screening, especially when marketed direct-to-consumers, threatens to worsen the inefficient use of healthcare resources that Burger and Kass discuss in the case of unproven screening tests. The information that genomic and other screening tests can provide may well have value for many patients, but its effective use in healthcare depends on careful thought about the ethics of testing and the proper regulation of unproven interventions.