Law suit regarding gene defect allowed to proceed

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*ADVOCACY ANNOUNCEMENT*

LAW SUIT REGARDING GENETIC DEFECT ALLOWED

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that a woman can sue

her daughter's doctors for malpractice for failure to diagnose

correctly, and warn about, the genetic defect that ran in her

family. The woman claims had she known about the disease and

risk, she would never have had more children.

The daughter has Fragile X syndrome, which causes mental retardation.

She was 3 when her pediatrician discovered she was developmentally

delayed. He discussed the possiblity of a genetic cause but

that was never pursued.

The woman later had a son, with a more severe form of mental

retardation. The family learned he had Fragile X syndrome and

that the daughter, with her mild form of the disease, was a carrier

of the genetic abnormality.

The court ruled:

" We therefore hold that a physician's duty regarding genetic

testing and diagnosis extends beyond the patient to biological

parents who foreseeably may be harmed by a breach of that duty, "

the court ruled. " In this case, the patient suffered from a serious

disorder that had a high probability of being genetically transmitted

and for which a reliable and accepted test was widely available "