Genetic privacy in Washington state: policy considerations and a Model Genetic Privacy Act.

Maria Silverwood' was excited when, on her twenty-fifth birthday, she was hired as a sales manager trainee for a Seattle company that manufactured computer graphic equipment. As a single mother, Maria needed a stable, secure job with potential for promotion. When Maria went for her mandatory new employee physical examination, she filled out a routine medical history form, on which she noted that her mother had died of Huntington's disease. Maria was shocked when she later found out she was ineligible for company-sponsored disability insurance because of the information she included in her medical history. Nonetheless, Maria expected to move quickly up the ranks at her new company. She consistently received "excellent" ratings in performance reviews, and she was named "employee of the year" during her second and third years with the company. Maria's immediate supervisor repeatedly told her that she definitely was management material. Four years after being hired, however, Maria was still classified as a trainee and paid at trainee's wages. Since the salary raises she had expected never materialized, Maria, as a single mother, found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. What Maria suspected, but could not prove, was that she was denied promotion on the basis of her genetic history, just as she had been denied disability insurance. The truth was that company managers knew of Maria's genetic history, as reported when she was hired. They had not promoted Maria into a