MEXICAN GENETICISTS OPINIONS ON DISCLOSURE ISSUES

Here we discuss the opinion on disclosure issues (respect for confiden tiality) of Mexican professionals working in clinical genetics. The in formation was obtained from a comprehensive survey on genetics, ethics and society organized by Wertz and Fletcher in 1993, in which genetic ists from 37 nations participated. The responses to 18 questions from 64 of 89 (72%) geneticists invited to participate were analyzed for th is paper. The questions were directed to investigate: a) disclosure of clinically relevant information in several situations such as testicu lar feminization syndrome, mosaic de novo balanced translocation in a fetus, or accidental discovery of non-paternity; b) the protection of patient's privacy from the spouse or blood relatives; and c) confident iality in cases with high genetic risk to relatives. The results revea l significant disparity between general responses related to disclosur e of all clinically relevant information and specific responses in par ticular cases. In addition, professionals appear to give higher priori ty to protecting the spouse, blood relatives or public safety, rather than the patient's confidentiality.