Ethical, Legal and Social Considerations in the Optimisation of Genomic Medicine for Public Health

Genetic testing has the potential to save lives through prevention or early treatment of disease. However, numerous ethical, legal and social issues affect the implementation and effectiveness of genomic medicine. The primary issues covered in this thesis fall within three broad categories: disclosure of genetic information to research participants and patients’ family members; genetic discrimination by insurance companies and its regulation; and the implementation of population-level DNA screening in a public health context. Through expert commentary, perspectives, legal analysis, case studies, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis, this thesis explores the effect of these issues on the optimisation of genomic medicine.