NSG5003 WK 3 discussion Board

Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology

South University NSG 5003 Advanced Pathophysiology Week 3 Assignment

In the event when a patient refuses to disclose genetic risk information to relatives, whether the patient’s doctor may or should disclose such information without the consent of the patient depends on the seriousness, preventability, and imminence of the risks. Rachel’s refusal to inform her sister (Kristin) about the brca1 and genetic testing places her doctor in dilemma. On one hand, the doctor has the legal right and ethical duty to Rachel to maintain confidentiality and on the other hand the doctor a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent any harm to her patients, provide them with the information needed for them to make an informed decision. Therefore, Rachel’s doctor should make every effort to convince Rachel on the importance of the information to relatives (Kristin) and pursued her on the need for intrafamilial disclosure and instead offer to inform Kristin on behalf of Rachel (Huether & McCance, 2014).  

Early screening for breast cancer enables the patient to undergo preventive health treatment or management. Other options for prevention of breast cancer in both men and women include mammograms, clinical breast tests, thermography, biopsies, ultrasounds, gene profiling, MRIs and hormone receptor assays. Adding prevention to the breast cancer program agenda can ensure that health professionals and patients keep up-to-date on breast cancer incidence rates, breast cancer risk assessment strategies and breast cancer prevention research (Chinnaiyan et al., 2014).

 References

1. Huether, S. E., and McCance, K. L. (2014). Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 13(6), 315.
2. Parsons, D. W., Roy, A., Plon, S. E., Roychowdhury, S., and Chinnaiyan, A. M. (2014). Clinical tumor sequencing: an incidental casualty of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommendations for reporting of incidental findings. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 32(21), 2203.