Guidelines for disclosing genetic information to family members: from development to use.

This paper presents the existing legal frameworks, professional guidelines and other documents related to the conditions and extent of the disclosure of genetic information by physicians to at-risk family members. Although the duty of a physician regarding disclosure of genetic information to a patient's relatives has only been addressed by few legal cases, courts have found such a duty under some circumstances. Generally, disclosure should not be permitted without the patient's consent.

Expanding the physician's duty of care: a duty to recontact?

This article addresses the ethical and legal issues surrounding the possibility of a "duty to recontact" patients concerning new genetic developments. The text examines the rationale of this concept, the conditions required for the creation of such a duty and who should be bound by it. While this "duty to recontact" has yet to be developed, the predictive familial dimensions of genetic information, however, may lead policy makers to favour such a duty.