Journal of law and medicine
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Advances in genetics, genetic therapeutics and the application of genetic technologies to many aspects of human life have challenged the capacity of regulatory authorities and legislative processes the world over. In Australia, developments in the "new genetics" prompted the government to initiate a major inquiry into the protection of human genetic information, resulting in the production and publication of Report 96, titled "Essentially Yours: The Protection of Human Genetic Information in Australia" in 2003. This article examines the recommendations set out in this report and how they have provided Australia with a framework to deal with the advances in human genetic technologies, using the examples of direct-to-consumer personal genome testing and whole-genome sequencing.
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This article considers the regulatory position concerning altruistic surrogacy in Queensland, focusing on the intended changes to the current legal framework announced by the government in June 2012. The previous government had made significant progress by reforming surrogacy laws in 2010. However, that progress is at risk of being reversed. ⋯ Moreover, if enacted, the offence would apply extra-territorially. The authors argue that these changes represent a retrograde step for the law and urge the government to reconsider. This is based on the fact that they are out of step with current social attitudes, are contrary to the spirit of anti-discrimination laws, and that they are unjustified in terms of child welfare concerns.
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The "Genome Era", a term that has been used to describe the period following the sequencing of the human genome, has heralded significant changes in biomedical research and clinical practice. Personalised medicine aims to use this increased genetic knowledge base to identify predisposition to disease and to tailor treatment to the individual based on an analysis of their genome. ⋯ There have been significant developments in this area since that report was released, and the authors argue that it is time to reconsider the regulatory framework of personalised medicine in Australia. The authors identify a number of ethical concerns that need to be addressed if the promise of personalised medicine is to be fully realised.
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In 2012 the New Zealand Court of Appeal, in a radical change in direction, held that the non-disclosure of HIV-positive status prior to unprotected sexual relations could amount to fraud vitiating consent, so that the offence of sexual violation is committed. The court applied R v Cuerrier [1998] 2 SCR 371, a controversial Canadian decision, which held that for the offence to be established the Crown has to establish that the dishonesty had the effect of exposing the person consenting to "a significant risk of serious bodily harm". ⋯ Secondly, the court considered issues left open in Cuerrier: whether condom use and/or a low viral load in the partner with HIV prevents failure to disclose HIV status before intercourse from posing "a significant risk of serious harm". This column analyses these two recent high-level decisions.
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Around one-quarter of Australian women will have an abortion during their lifetime but access is affected by the way health care providers interpret the law about abortion. In Queensland and New South Wales abortion is a criminal offence although it is defensible in certain circumstances. ⋯ The two scenarios discussed in this article are a request for a first trimester abortion in circumstances where the woman does not feel ready to have a baby; and a request for abortion in the second trimester where the fetus has been diagnosed with an abnormality. This article explores doctors' understanding of the law related to the provision of abortion in these two States and their views about the effect of the law on their practice.