Your DNA and Your Healthcare

The Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement can routinely obtain your DNA as if it were fingerprints. Are you aware that fingerprints are required of all doctors in Delaware and all board members of any organization that has a liquor license and a host of other vocations? Are you aware that your DNA can accurately predict your risks of many diseases, especially some very common cancers? Your DNA can be sequenced in a matter of minutes and more information about your future can be gleaned from this than you might ever know otherwise. Certainly with privacy laws, no  one can just have access to this information. It could be invaluable to a rival or political enemy. But it of course is protected, especially by the Affordable Care Act, and it’s law enforcement arm, the IRS. So, it is certainly not possible for anyone to get your private DNA information, especially if the consequences for leaking the information would certainly be prosecuted by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General. Clearly there is no way that the DOJ would allow such malfeasance by the IRS, and no possibility that our executive branch which oversees both would allow such a thing. No possibility whatsoever! Dr. Chris Casscells Director, Center for Healthcare Policy