RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A child born with Edward's syndrome: the legal and moral duty to accede to the request for parentage determination
JF Journal of Medical Ethics
JO J Med Ethics
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 383
OP 386
DO 10.1136/medethics-2012-100793
VO 40
IS 6
A1 Chan, Tak Kwong
A1 Hui, Edwin
A1 Chung, Brian
YR 2014
UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/40/6/383.abstract
AB Advances in medical technology inevitably bring about different kinds of ethical challenges for practising doctors. The following hypothetical case of assisted reproduction is presented as an example. A boy is born with Edward's syndrome following assisted reproduction. The parents suspect that there has been an error of embryo mix-up. They challenge the parenthood and request a genetic test to determine the biological parentage of the neonate. Should the attending paediatrician in this case accede to the request? We argue that the paediatrician has no legal obligation to offer the test, although it might be lawful and ethical to provide the test subject to the outcome of our proposed three-step risk assessment.