Manaouil Cécile, Graser Marie, Chatelain Denis, Jardé Olivier
Medical Law Consultation, Amiens Nord Teaching Hospital, Amiens, France.
Med Law. 2005 Dec;24(4):783-9.
The French bioethics law of July 1994 was due to be revised five years after its enactment. It was not until 6 August 2004, that the revised law was finally adopted. The examination of the genetic characteristics of a person may only be undertaken for medical purposes or for the purposes of scientific research. Consent must therefore be obtained in writing, after fully informing the patient, and may be withdrawn at any time, in either form (orally or in writing). French law nevertheless authorises carrying out such an examination where there is no consent, solely for medical purposes and in the interest of the patient. The issue has arisen of the detection of a serious genetic anomaly during an examination of genetic characteristics. In this respect, certain anomalies may lead to the patient's relatives being tested, in order to suggest suitable treatment. A procedure for informing families has been implemented by the French Biomedicine Agency (details of which will be specified in a decree).
1994年7月的法国生物伦理法规定应在颁布五年后进行修订。直到2004年8月6日，修订后的法律才最终获得通过。对一个人的基因特征进行检测只能出于医疗目的或科学研究目的。因此，必须在充分告知患者后获得书面同意，且患者可以随时以任何形式（口头或书面）撤回同意。然而，法国法律允许在未经同意的情况下仅出于医疗目的且为了患者的利益进行此类检测。在基因特征检测过程中出现了检测到严重基因异常的问题。在这方面，某些异常情况可能导致对患者的亲属进行检测，以便建议合适的治疗方法。法国生物医学机构已实施了一项告知家属的程序（其细节将在一项法令中具体规定）。
