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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley
New England Journal of Public Policy
This issue of the journal can be summed up in one word: provocative. At least two articles break new ground. Anthony Robbins and Phyllis Freeman explore the ways in which environmentally oriented public health is uniquely suited to help organized medical care in providing health and in restraining expenditures. Janet Farrell Smith challenges policymakers to look at what will soon become a hot issue — the medical use of genetic information. The genetic testing of children, now becoming prevalent in the foster care and pre-adoptive stage in order to facilitate placement and satisfy prospective parents’ “need to know,” is already …
Genetic Testing: A Cautionary Tale Of Foster And Pre-Adoptive Children, Janet Farrell Smith
Genetic Testing: A Cautionary Tale Of Foster And Pre-Adoptive Children, Janet Farrell Smith
New England Journal of Public Policy
Genetic testing of children in the foster care and pre-adoptive stage may be thought to facilitate child placement and satisfy prospective parents’ need to know. But, the policy analysis in this paper recommends great caution, especially given eugenic attitudes in the history of adoption and the risk of creating a second tier of un-adoptable children. Testing should be done only when two conditions are satisfied: test information is medically useful for childhood onset diseases; test information supports and does not diminish the child’s access to present and future healthcare (or the child’s future insurability). Public policy needs to make a …
Aids In Children: An Overview Of The Medical, Epidemiological, And Public Health Problems, Ellen R. Cooper
Aids In Children: An Overview Of The Medical, Epidemiological, And Public Health Problems, Ellen R. Cooper
New England Journal of Public Policy
Cases of AIDS in children under thirteen years of age have been described since 1982. Diagnosis is more difficult in children than in adults, owing to the more varied clinical presentation and the difficulty in interpretation of laboratory tests. Current diagnostic criteria of HIV infection are reviewed, as well as symptomatology, natural history, and controversies surrounding management and therapy. Without a full appreciation of the transmissibility of HIV, issues including school and day-care attendance and foster family placement remain emotionally charged. Conflicting public policies contribute to fears on the part of the general public. Because ofthe unique implications for the …