Ethical issues in the use of genetic testing of patients with schizophrenia and their families

Purpose of reviewThis review outlines the positive and negative aspects of DNA testing and provides an account of the issues particularly relevant to schizophrenia.Recent findingsModern technology has changed the field of medicine so rapidly that patients and their families have become much more independent in their healthcare decisions than in the previous decade. Simply by finding information on the Internet, they gain knowledge about disease diagnosis, treatment options and their side-effects. No medical field likely has been more affected and more controversial than that of genetics. It is now possible to sequence the individual human genome and detect single nucleotide variations, microdeletions and duplications within it. Commercial companies have sprung up in a similar manner to the software or electronic industries and have begun to market direct-to-consumer DNA testing. Much of this may be performed to satisfy curiosity about one's ancestry; but commercially available results that appear incidentally can also be distributed to the consumer.SummaryEthicists, genetics researchers, clinicians and government agencies are currently in discussion about concerns raised about commercially available DNA testing, while at the same time recognizing its value in some instances to be able to predict very serious disabilities.