The chapter discusses the ethical issues associated with testing and screening. The section has two main topics that are further divided into different subtopics to determine how testing and screening should be undertaken ethically. The introduction presents the problem and the arrangement of the issues the chapter intends to use to answer the question of ethics of testing and screening. Testing is the first main topic discussed in the section, which addresses the ethics of undertaking a medical test. The part subtopics revolves around the central question, accuracy, false positive and false negatives, interpretation of results, risks, costs of experiments, the charge of over-testing, and testing and informed consent (Baillie, 2013).
The subsection dictates that testing is only ethical if and only if it will improve the life of the patient, it is accurate, and there are no false positive or false negatives. Therefore resulting in the need for repeat or the patient is subjected to unwarranted risks such as stigmatization or medication when they are not sick (Baillie, 2013). The issues such as stigmatization or negativity resulting in the false positives or false negatives can result in incorrect interpretation by the users of the results. The errors lead to the need for undertaking a cost-benefit analysis that enables the determination of conducting a test. The chapter also considers the need for informed consent to ensure that the patient is aware what the test needs to know and the risks of undertaking the analysis.
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The second main topic addresses the ethical consideration before undertaking mass screening. The discussion demonstrates the unfavorable risks that increase discrimination of the screen to lead to life-changing results. The notion of the debate indicates that tests that do not intend to benefit the patient, there is no cure even after testing, and the costs outweigh the benefits to the patient are unethical. The disclosure of results in mass screening and testing positive for ailments such as HIV led to stigmatization and lost employment thus it would be immoral to support the large-scale screening that is irrelevant to employees or trial for the sake of testing (Baillie, 2013). The over-testing problem is also unethical and increases healthcare costs thus the need to limit over-testing. The final section provides some case studies that would aid understanding the topic by solving the case studies.
Reference
Baillie, H. W. (2013). Health care ethics . Boston: Prentice Hall.
