Research project PC/12 (Research action PC)
This project examines the conflict of interests between the individual about whom genetic data are obtained and the other parties concerned, and proposes possible solutions. In this regard, and in agreement with current legal and ethical conceptions, it is necessary to find a middle ground between maximal protection of individual interests on one hand and of collective and third-party interests on the other.
Emphasis is laid especially on the use of genetic research data in the area of preventive care and in selecting which people to employ and for whom to provide insurance coverage. The solutions retained are translated into concrete proposals for adapting the law. As an extension of the project, we also examine the micro and meso levels, the mutual relations between the screened individual, his/her family members, the geneticist, and the regular doctor. To this end, essential questions are asked, pertaining to matters such as the legal basis of doctor-patient relations, the possibility of protecting in principle family privacy, the right to be (or not to be) informed of research results, protection of the individual rights of the mentally ill and children (born or conceived), the extent of doctors' professional duty of confidentiality, etc.
