Disclosure Dilemmas

Christoph Rehmann-Sutter is a philosopher and molecular biologist, specialising in bioethics. He is Professor of Theory and Ethics in Biosciences at the University of Lübeck, Germany. From 2001-2009 he was President of the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics. He has published extensively in the fields of ethics of genetics and bioethics and is a Visiting Professor at BIOS, London School of Economics.

• Contents: Introduction, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter and Hansjakob Müller; Part 1 Setting the Scene: The right to know and the right not to know - 10 years on, Ruth Chadwick; Genetic counseling: placing the room in context, Barbara Katz Rothman; Genetic counselling: clinical settings and constraints, Hansjakob Müller. Part 2 Cases and Issues: Prevention of harmful false diagnosis versus threat by disclosure of an inheritable disease - a medical case, David Winkler and Philippe Lyrer; Communication yes, but how - and what? Commentary to the case presented by David Winkler and Philippe Lyrer, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter; The need for an ethics of kinship: decision stories and patients' context, Rouven Porz; Testing for susceptibility genes: a cautionary tale, Margaret Lock; 'If only I had (not) known that': about risk-individualization, chance-specification and the loss of certainty of not-knowing, Tjeerd Tymstra; The symbolic fallout of gene talk: replacing the person with manageable constructs, Silja Samerski; Predictive genetic testing of adolescents at risk of inherited arrhythmic death, Jane Kaye, Michael Parker and Edward Blair. Part 3 Responsibilities: How legal frameworks construct patterns of liability in genetic counseling: an international perspective, Daniel Wied, Susanne Listl and Maximilian Seibl; Responsibility towards relatives, Michael Steel; Careful communication of 'bad news': the cancer experience, Wolf Langewitz; The responsibility of the truth-teller, Thomas Cerny; Practising informed choice. Decision making and prenatal risk assessment - the Danish experience, Nete Schwennesen, Lene Koch and Mette Nordahl Svendsen; Receiving and interpreting information: a joint enterprise, Jackie Leach Scully; Without disclosure, no informed choice, Peter Miny; Allowing agency: an ethical model for communicating personal genetic information, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter; Conclusions, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter and Hansjakob Müller; Index.

'This is a simply splendid book, at the cutting edge of bioethics, clinical genetics, and the social sciences. This deserves to be a landmark in scholarship on the ethics and practice of clinical medicine. Any clinician, ethicist or social scientist interested in contemporary medical practice would profit from reading it.' Richard Ashcroft, Queen Mary University of London, UK 'I heartily recommend this book both for practitioners of clinical genetics and genetic counselling and for all those interested in the social and ethical issues that arise in the clinical setting. The editors have assembled a very fine set of essays of 'informed reflection' upon these topics, written by a first rate set of international contributors.' Angus Clarke, Cardiff University, UK '...this book is highly recommended for everyone interested in the impact of our actions on future people-not for philosophers only.' Medicine, Health Care & Philosophy '...this book sketches a thorough map of some of the most pressing ethical issues arising from current developments in biomedicine. Its attempt to bridge the gaps between bioethics, genetic medicine, law and sociology is very valuable and makes the volume potentially useful to those from any of these disciplines... this volume shows quite compellingly the importance of taking seriously into account the medical, legal and social contexts in which biomedicine is situated. It will certainly enrich those who are interested in the applied ethics of biomedicine.' Genomics, Society and Policy