The utilitarian perspective focuses on the broad impacts of the actions, rather than just how the actions affect specific individuals (Andre & Velasquez, 2010). From the utilitarian perspective, genetic testing has the potential to do great harm to many, and to benefit many. The utilitarian arithmetic points out that the benefits to the companies in utilizing genetic testing is that profits increase. The argument can also be made that wealthier companies provide more jobs and wealthier insurance companies are better able to pay out to those who do receive payments. The counter to the former point is that this employment is theoretical -- not only may it not occur, but it may not occur in the United States. The counter to the latter is that insurance is largely price inelastic, so there is no improvement in coverage likely from handing more profits to insurance companies.
On the harm side, many workers could have their disability coverage limited. If the concept is expanded to the insurance industry, many would find themselves either unable to obtain insurance coverage or unable to afford it, because of their "deficient" genes. The implications of this are that many would suffer and some would die as the result of allowing gene testing to determine disability and insurance coverage levels. When doing the utilitarian arithmetic, some judgment needs to be made with respect to the value of the different outcomes. In this case, those values are relatively easy to determine. Suffering and death are worse outcomes than a reduction in profit. Almost all human societies place health and life as among the most important criteria by which the ethics of an action can be measured. Even societies that place high value on economic gain at least nominally recognize that economic gain does not trump life and liberty.
Conclusion
The lack of a clear categorical imperative means that the deontological perspective may not be able to fully resolve the issue. In general,...
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