Table 1 Disease characteristics and their relation to ethical principles: Ethical issues to consider
From: The role of disease characteristics in the ethical debate on personal genome testing
| Disease characteristic | Ethical principles |
Relation characteristic/principle: Ethical issues to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Severity |
Beneficence Non-maleficence | High severity → high potential for medical benefit, high risk of psychological harm |
| Actionability |
Beneficence Non-maleficence |
High actionability → high potential for (medical) benefit Moderate actionability → risk of psychological harm (e.g. victim-blaming or feelings of guilt) Low actionability → risk of psychological harm (emotional impact of test result) |
| Age of onset | Respect for autonomy | Late age of onset → right not to know in adults and children |
| Psychiatric/somatic | Non-maleficence | Psychiatric diseases: more risk of harm because of stigma; more risk of harm because of psychological impact |