GENETICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

GENETICS - Essay Example Myra was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 48, indicating that it is likely that her cancer was sporadic rather than inherited, however this does not rule out the possibility of the cancer being heritable. In contrast, her mother died from cancer at a ‘young’ age, which suggests the possibility that this was an inherited susceptibility. The fact that there is a chance that the susceptibility may have been inherited means that I would have raised the possibility of a referral with Myra on the basis of her family history alone. The presence of a defective gene, which can be passed from parent to child, results in the child having up to an 80% probability of getting cancer at some point in their lifetime . There are many benefits to genetic counselling, including an increased understanding of whether the disease is inherited and what the chances that offspring will inherit it are . Many different things are inherited genetically; a child may inherit his mother’s bl ue eyes, or his father’s nose shape as well as the susceptibility to a particular disease that is present on his father’s side of the family. ... Many people consider that a child is ‘more like his mother’ or ‘more like his father’ based on their physical appearance. However, while this is a common belief it is not true, children inherit approximately half of their DNA from their mother and half from their father (only approximately due to the presence of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA) . Consequently, while the gene for breast cancer susceptibility (such as BRCA1 or BRCA2) may have an increased likelihood of being inherited with a feature of appearance such as hair colour, there is no basis for believing that a child has an increased likelihood to inherit susceptibility because of the presence of particular physical characteristics. Individuals have a wide range of beliefs about the origins of disease, many of which do not agree with the known scientific basis. These beliefs are based on factors such as prejudice, tradition and ignorance of the scientific basis for inheritance. Some factors t hat are often considered to be causative of disease include education, economic class, and weight . Consequently, Myra attributing the similarity in physical characteristics to a similarity in disease susceptibility does not have strong scientific basis, however, matches trends that are seen in the population, especially among lay people. Scenario Two Being able to work with colleagues and patients who have different cultural beliefs is an important part of nursing, especially in modern society. It is not enough to promote our own, predominantly Westernised, views on the rest of the world without considering their viewpoints and different expectations . In recent years, there has been a trend towards increasing cultural awareness and the development of cultural