An Examination of the Ethical and Legal Limits in Implementing "Traceback Testing" for Deceased Patients.

This paper examines the legal and ethical aspects of traceback testing, a process in which patients who have been previously diagnosed with ovarian cancer are identified and offered genetic testing so that their family members can be informed of their genetic risk and can also choose to undergo testing. Specifically, this analysis examines the ethical and legal limits in implementing traceback testing in cases when the patient is deceased and can no longer consent to genetic testing.

Feasibility of a Traceback Approach for Using Pathology Specimens to Facilitate Genetic Testing in the Genetic Risk Analysis in Ovarian Cancer (GRACE) Study Protocol.

Guidelines currently state that genetic testing is clinically indicated for all individuals diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Individuals with a prior diagnosis of ovarian cancer who have not received genetic testing represent missed opportunities to identify individuals with inherited high-risk cancer variants. For deceased individuals, post-mortem genetic testing of pathology specimens allows surviving family members to receive important genetic risk information.

Beyond the Nature/Medicine Divide in Maternity Care.

Much has been made of distinguishing natural from medical in childbirth in both popular and professional contexts. But what do we really mean by ? This essay examines the history behind the natural childbirth movement and suggests that distinguishing natural from medical childbirth is no longer productive in ongoing efforts to improve maternal health care.

Religion, Medicine, and Politics: Catholic Physicians' Guilds in America,1909-32.

In 1909 the first Catholic physicians' guild formed in New York City. By 1911 guilds could be found in Philadelphia and Boston. They acted as professional organizations as well as brotherhoods built on a set of shared religious and moral convictions.

The Life and Legacy of Niles Polk Rumely Newton: Breastfeeding Researcher, Advocate, and Mother, 1923-1993.

In the 1950s, researchers devoted very little time to understanding breastfeeding, physicians and nurses learned almost nothing about it in their training, and even those mothers who showed an interest in breastfeeding often found the lack of information and support for doing so to be overwhelming. In this period, Niles R. Newton stands out for a number of reasons.

Examining the use of 'natural' in breastfeeding promotion: ethical and practical concerns.

References to the 'natural' are common in public health messaging about breastfeeding. For example, the WHO writes that 'Breast milk is the natural first food for babies' and the U.S.

Towards more effective online information support for mammography screening decisions.

We sought to determine the extent to which web-based patient-directed resources of U.S. public health agencies and professional groups offer consistent and relevant information on the benefits and harms of mammography screening.

Maternal expectations: new mothers, nurses, and breastfeeding.

By the middle of the 20th century, breastfeeding rates had fallen to less than 20% in some areas of the United States. Despite these grim statistics, many mothers continued to seek information, advice, and the experience of breastfeeding their infants. This article explores the role that nurses played in these women's struggles to breastfeed in the years between the end of World War II and the 1970s.

Negotiating exclusion: MSM, identity, and blood policy in the age of AIDS.

In the US, blood donors face a variety of restrictions that leave many people excluded entirely from the donor pool. This paper explores the specific circumstances and meanings surrounding the donor ban on Men-who-have-Sex-with-Men (MSM). The ban on MSM is one of the few existing donor guidelines to receive considerable criticism on grounds that it effectively prohibits any sexually active gay man from donating blood and thus discriminates against gays.