Monday, November 27, 2006

Feature: Genetic Counseling - What's In It For You?

When does someone need to see a genetic counselor?

Is genetic counseling only for pregnant women? What happens if your kids have a genetic disorder. Do you need genetic counseling then?

Why do most expectant couples decline genetic testing and counseling?

The story seeked to delve into the vast field that is genetic counseling and find answers that can
help a lot of people and explode preconceived notions and myths in the process.

The doctors I interviewed complained to me that often pregnant couples would decline genetic testing saying if God intended their baby to have a birth defect or genetic disorder, then so be it.

What they kept stressing was that the whole point of genetic testing and counseling is not about believing in abortions or not.


It's really about knowing in advance if there could be a problem and getting the resources in place to handle the problem, when the baby arrives.

Whether you choose to abort or not is really your personal, private decision.

Click here to read the story in text format.


An Infant with a devastating Disease: The Story of Baby Elise
This was a sidebar I wrote to the main story. It was so disturbing and sad to talk to the baby's courageous dad, who told me his story.

His 2-year-old baby has a very rare genetic disease called Tay Sach's Disease that currently has no cure.

"We were planning the world for her," he told me. "And now someone's telling us she wouldn't live to be four."

Very heartbreaking. I wish them lots of courage and strength to get through this.

If you want to read just that sidebar, you can either right click on the last image and save it on your computer and read the story by zooming in to the text or just click here and scroll to about the middle of the page, until you see the headline.

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