Genetic Counselling

Every doctor will need at some stage to answer questions relating to the hereditary nature of diseases and discuss relevant issues with the patient. A patient should be referred to a genetics specialist when hereditary issues require further investigation, for example when a condition occurring in family members or relatives is suspected to be genetic and the diagnosis is not clear a genetic condition, often very rare, has been diagnosed in the family about which it proves difficult to find further information. The role of a genetics specialist (medical geneticist) is purely an advisory one and he/she will not take part in decisions relating to, for example, family planning, prenatal diagnosis, carrier testing or predictive testing. The patient's treating doctor may provide genetic counselling about more common diseases, such as diabetes asthma and other allergies dyslipidaemias cancer when no suggestive evidence exists for its hereditary nature (breast cancer , colorectal cancer ) mental health problems.