Reading:
Jack and Diane had worked hard to make it through college at the University of Houston. Both had taken out student loans and worked full-time to make it through. The hard work paid off when Jack got his first electrical engineering job at a large computer company in Houston making $35,000 a year. Diane graduated with a degree in child development and started a little daycare center in their new suburban home outside Houston.
Things were going so well that they decided to make an addition to the family, and luckily enough, nine months later, a bouncing baby boy arrived. Danny seemed to be a perfectly healthy baby boy. When Danny started to walk, he fell a lot, as most children do. On one occasion Danny hit his head on the coffee table and cut himself above his right eye. As concerned parents, Jack and Diane took Danny to their local pediatrician to see if he needed stitches.
As they were driving to the doctor, Diane commented that the bleeding would not stop. When the pediatrician began sewing up the eye, he knew that there was more to the cut than just a simple laceration. The doctor asked the concerned parents if Danny was a hemophiliac. To this point, they had never had any reason to suspect that their little boy had any problems with blood clotting. The doctor took some blood and sent it to the lab to be analyzed. Their fears were confirmed--Danny was a hemophiliac.
Hemophilia refers to a group of bleeding disorders in which it takes a long time for the blood to clot. In severe cases, serious bleeding may occur without any cause and internal bleeding may occur anywhere.
Hemophilia is an X-linked recessive characteristic that usually occurs in males. If a mother is a carrier of the recessive gene there is a 25% chance she will have a child who is a hemophiliac. If females are born with hemophilia they are certain to have problems during puberty. To treat this problem, victims are given transfusions of Factor VIII, which is one of the platelet chemicals that healthy people produce to clot blood. The cost of Factor VIII transfusions can run up to $80,000 a year per patient. Luckily for Jack and Diane, they had insurance through his company. The insurance paid 90% of the bills so that left $8,000 to be paid by Jack and Diane. This put a small stress on their marriage. However, they decided to have another child, even though they knew there was a 25% chance their next child could be a hemophiliac also.
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Questions:
Genetic counselors are health professionals with specialized graduate degrees and experience in the areas of medical genetics and counseling. As part of their job, they work as members of a healthcare team to provide information and support to families who may be at risk for a variety of genetic conditions.
Pretend you are a genetic counselor and you are meeting with Jack and Diane. What advice would you offer them about having another child? What support would you offer them knowing they already have one child with hemophilia? Use the space below to write a short paragraph.
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Which of the following accurately describes the problem presented in the reading?
A) Jack and Diane are a married couple who are deciding where to obtain advanced educational degrees.
B)Jack and Diane, a hard-working married couple, have a son who hit his head and it won’t stop bleeding.
C)Jack and Diane, a hard-working married couple, have a son who hit his head and now must receive medical treatment at a local hospital
