Canadian bioethicist questions value of Down syndrome detection

http://goo.gl/1jHcBU

“The larger ethical question,” he writes, “is whether this pursuit of profit is good for people who have Down syndrome or even good for the rest of us.”

Recent research by Dr Brian Skotko at Massachusetts General Hospital suggests that most Down syndrome people and their families are happy with their lives. “The arms race to develop these tests is not being driven by the needs of people with Down syndrome or the needs of their families,” he says. In fact, says Dr Kaposy,

“…  the social utility of these tests is incommensurate with the effort needed to create them. In contrast to the scientist who devotes her life to the treatment of cancer, … devotion to create a test that helps parents to avoid the birth of people who tend to enjoy their lives seems somehow less ambitious, or off the mark.”