Do You Really Want to Know?
A documentary about the complex emotional, ethical and psychological issues surrounding the new frontier of predictive genetic testing. The film follows three families who have been confronted with the decision of whether or not to be tested for Huntington's disease - a degenerative neurological illness that is akin to having ALS, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's simultaneously - and one of the first diseases people could be accurately and conclusively tested for, before the onset of any symptoms. As scientists discover more ways to identify diseases before we know we have them, "do you really want to know?" will be a question more and more of us will face.
- Runtime
- 1h 12m
- Released
- 2012
Details
Release year: 2012
Storyline
A documentary about the complex emotional, ethical and psychological issues surrounding the new frontier of predictive genetic testing. The film follows three families who have been confronted with the decision of whether or not to be tested for Huntington's disease - a degenerative neurological illness that is akin to having ALS, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's simultaneously - and one of the first diseases people could be accurately and conclusively tested for, before the onset of any symptoms. As scientists discover more ways to identify diseases before we know we have them, "do you really want to know?" will be a question more and more of us will face.
Top credits
- Jeffrey Carroll — Self
- Gaalen Engen — John Roder (Re-enactment)
- Lini Evans — Mary-Lou Roder (Re-enactment)
- Paul Griggs — Tom Monahan (Re-enactment)