A 'wrongful birth' case was recently brought before a court in...

Question

A 'wrongful birth' case was recently brought before a court in which a child with Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome was born to apparently healthy parents. This syndrome is characterized by a cluster of birth defects including cleft palate, and an array of problems with the reproductive and urinary organs. Originally considered by their physician as having a nongenetic basis, the parents decided to have another child, who was also born with Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome. In the role of a genetic counselor, instruct the court about what occurred, including the probability of the parents having two affected offspring, knowing that the disorder is inherited as a recessive trait.

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone. Let's look at our next question. It says in court a healthy couple claims that their child was replaced in the hospital since the one they are raising now has cystic fibrosis. As a student of genetics, why do you think that their claim is potentially wrong? Well let's think about the nature of cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is an autism away recessive disease. And as a result an affected individual Must have two copies of that recessive jean. A little c little C. For that and therefore must inherit one copy from each parent. But as a recessive disorder you often see affected individuals with non affected parents. Since individuals who are heterocyclic for the gene who are carriers of the recessive gene are not affected. So you can see recessive disorders uh skipping generations as their normal mode of inheritance. Since you have multiple generations of unaffected carriers. Until you have two parents who happen to be carriers coming along and their child inheriting the recessive gene from both of them. So that leads us to our answer. Choice of a both parents are possibly cystic fibrosis carriers. But to be thorough we'll just go through the other answer choices. Make sure nothing else is a more likely possibility for explaining why their claim is wrong. Choice. B says the child could have caught cystic fibrosis as a result of an infection. Well this is not correct. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease and it's not caught choice C says the child could have caught cystic fibrosis through blood transfusion. Um Again, cystic fibrosis is not a blood blood borne illness it's inherited, it's a genetic disorder. So C is not correct. And finally, Choice D um one of the parents had cystic fibrosis as a child which got cured. Um Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder. Um Doesnt get cured. It's a lifelong disease although treatments and therapies can improve the quality of life and um reduce symptoms of the disease. But the person will still have cystic fibrosis. Choice D. Is not correct. So again, um parents claiming the child is replaced in the hospital since they are healthy and our child has cystic fibrosis. Why do you think the claim is potentially wrong? Choice? A Both parents are possibly cystic fibrosis carriers. See you in the next video.

Key Concepts

Recessive Inheritance

Carrier Status

Genetic Counseling

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