9 - Ethical Issues and Future Developments

Abstract

This chapter discusses ethical issues and future developments of medicine. Advances in technology have also produced problems in which the standard therapist's role is no longer straightforward and nurses constantly have to face situations where traditional guidelines are not available. In the identification of carriers in conditions, such as, Tay-Sach's disease or thalassemia, the couple may decide not to have children. The procedure of genetic engineering involves adding virus DNA to alter the DNA of a bacterium; the genetic constitution of the bacterium is thereby changed. It is hoped that a similar approach could be applied to human disease, for example, to make good the deficiency of a particular enzyme. The replacement DNA with the appropriate genetic information can be produced by the action of an enzyme known as reverse transcriptase. This is obtained from certain viruses and would allow DNA to be manufactured from the RNA template; a reversal of the usual flow of genetic information. Genetic counseling and prenatal diagnostic services are now accepted and established services in most medically developed countries in the world. However, severe effects are there of such services; not only on the parents, but also on other children in the family. The future is now and as always is very exciting. The aim of medicine should be to ensure that all of us, nurses and doctors, adapt to the changing needs of the community.