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Exclusive! Controversial Scientist Answers Critics
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| Ryan Kaye, 44, faces a malpractice suit | |
| Video files are available. Download the latest Quicktime plug-in to view them. |
44 year old Ryan Kaye, an eminent and widely respected geneticist will find out next week whether he is to stand trial for charges of malpractice.
The charges are brought by his former wife, Jennifer Kaye, and his 16 year old son, Mark Kaye. Both Jennifer and Ryan Kaye are carriers for the genetic disorder known as Friedreich’s ataxia, which is a disabling and often fatal genetic disorder of the nervous system.
Any child the Kaye’s conceived had a 1 in 4 chance of inheriting Friedreich’s ataxia. Therefore, when they chose to start a family, Jennifer Kaye agreed to genetic selection for a child free of this disorder. However, Ryan Kaye who carried out the selection process selected an embryo not only to be free of Friedreich’s ataxia but for gender and for a predisposition to athleticism. The agreement made by husband and wife was that the selection process would be only for an embryo that was free of Friedreich’s ataxia and that under no circumstances would the selection go beyond that.
Jennifer Kaye’s case is that her husband is guilty of malpractice in contravening her rights as a parent by selecting for gender and for characteristics. Mark Kaye’s case is that parents should only be allowed to select against genetic disorders and not for gender or for characteristics.
| Character Profiles | |
| Background Information | |
| What are genes? | |
| Inherited genetic disorders | |
| New Genetics | |
| The Human Genome Project | |
| Testing and screening | |
| Gene therapy | |
| Freidreich's ataxia | |
| People and genetics | |
| Issues and concerns | |
| Web Resources | |
| The Gift | |
| Synopsis | |
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Nicola Baldwin Writing The Gift |
| Download the script | |
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