1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910811670003321

Autore

Timmermans Stefan <1968->

Titolo

Saving babies? : the consequences of newborn genetic screening / / Stefan Timmermans and Mara Buchbinder

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago ; ; London, : University of Chicago Press, 2013

ISBN

1-283-83373-5

0-226-92499-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (320 p.)

Collana

Fieldwork encounters and discoveries

Altri autori (Persone)

BuchbinderMara

Disciplina

618.92/01

Soggetti

Newborn infants - Medical examinations - Social aspects - United States

Newborn infants - Diseases - Diagnosis - Social aspects

Genetic screening - Social aspects - United States

Medical screening - Social aspects - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: the consequences of newborn screening -- The expansion of newborn screening -- Patients-in-waiting -- Shifting disease ontologies -- Is my baby normal? -- The limits of prevention -- Does expanded newborn screening save lives? -- Conclusion: the future of expanded newborn screening.

Sommario/riassunto

It has been close to six decades since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA and more than ten years since the human genome was decoded. Today, through the collection and analysis of a small blood sample, every baby born in the United States is screened for more than fifty genetic disorders. Though the early detection of these abnormalities can potentially save lives, the test also has a high percentage of false positives-inaccurate results that can take a brutal emotional toll on parents before they are corrected. Now some doctors are questioning whether the benefits of these screenings outweigh the stress and pain they sometimes produce. In Saving Babies?, Stefan Timmermans and Mara Buchbinder evaluate the consequences and benefits of state-mandated newborn screening-and the larger policy questions they raise about the inherent inequalities in American



medical care that limit the effectiveness of this potentially lifesaving technology. Drawing on observations and interviews with families, doctors, and policy actors, Timmermans and Buchbinder have given us the first ethnographic study of how parents and geneticists resolve the many uncertainties in screening newborns. Ideal for scholars of medicine, public health, and public policy, this book is destined to become a classic in its field.