Down's syndrome screening is unethical: views of today's research ethics committees.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Screening for Down's syndrome forms part of routine obstetric practice. Ethical considerations relating to genetic screening form a major part of the workload of research ethics committees. This study investigated the attitudes of research ethics committee members to several conditions varying in clinical severity and prognosis, including Down's syndrome. METHODS:The members of 40 randomly chosen research ethics committees were surveyed. A simple questionnaire comprising 19 clinical scenarios based around four "clinical" conditions was designed to review conditions that were potentially embarrassing, affecting life span but not mental ability, premature death, and intellectual impairment with a risk of neonatal cardiac defects (Down's syndrome). Screening tests with different de

SUBMITTER: Reynolds TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1769927 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature