About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

49 DePaul L. Rev. 161 (1999-2000)
Pandora's Box Exposed: Untangling the Web of the Double Helix in Light of Insurance and Managed Care

handle is hein.journals/deplr49 and id is 171 raw text is: PANDORA'S BOX EXPOSED: UNTANGLING THE WEB OF THE DOUBLE HELIX IN LIGHT OF INSURANCE AND MANAGED CARE I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social sta- tus or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science.' INTRODUCTION To the trained eye, much of who you are is written in your DNA.2 Imagine a potential picture of the world to come. This is a world in which procreation through natural sexual activity is not considered normal. Children produced from a loving relationship, in which faith is put in God or another higher power instead of the local geneticists, are stigmatized from birth on. Having a healthy baby is no longer considered a gift or blessing. Instead, seemingly perfect babies with ten fingers and ten toes are imperfect because they have not come from advanced technology. Tremendous capabilities exist in this future world. Within seconds of birth a blood sample could be taken and the exact time of the new- born baby's death could be determined, as well as all of the medical problems that would afflict the child throughout his or her adult life. A child is considered chronically ill because of a need for glasses or simply the knowledge that someday a life-threatening heart or liver disorder will manifest itself. In fact, any ailment in this child's life, however minor, is viewed as a threatening manifestation of a geneti- cally imperfect body. If the above scenario is not disturbing enough, imagine the life of a child in the future who is rejected from birth, not only in terms of his or her medical condition, but also because insurance will not cover seemingly normal activities, such as a doctor's visit or exam. This ge- netically imperfect child's own life may not be the worst obstacle faced. Even worse is the genetically perfect sibling, a constant re- minder of who the naturally conceived child can never become, and who the child will never live up to. This genetically perfect brother or sister is created through a scientific screening process in which parents 1. GATrACA (Columbia Pictures 1997). 2. ELIZABETH L. MARSHALL, THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT: CRACKING THE CODE WITHIN Us 8 (1996).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most