ENTITLED TO RESULTS OF GENETIC TESTS ? Nicolle Strand

This Comment will explore the issue of incidental and future genetic research findings and the participant’s right to receive such information in the context of constitutional law. It will attempt to answer the question: does a participant in a voluntary genetic study have a right of access to the results? Thus far, there has been no case law that establishes an answer to the question. Under First Amendment law, a tenuous “right to hear” doctrine has been described, but it refers primarily to citizens’ right to absorb a diversity of opinions and gather relevant facts in a political and social context. Similarly, the Fourth and Ninth Amendments are somewhat analogous to the question at hand, but prove ultimately unavailing. A right to the results of genetic tests may, however, be derived from the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment provides that no person may be deprived of property without due process of law. Is your genetic information your property? This is a question that has not yet been addressed by the courts and that this Comment will attempt to answer. This Comment will examine claims that participants might have under several constitutional amendments and will analyze the validity of such claims. It will compare and contrast the issue at hand with the courts’ treatment of seemingly analogous issues and examine possible frameworks that courts are likely to use in evaluating such a case were it to reach their dockets. Ultimately, it will argue that there is a strong moral reason for courts to establish a new constitutional right, borne out of the Fourteenth