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A few weeks into sixth grade, Colman Chadam had to leave school because of his DNA.
The situation, odd as it may sound, played out like this. Colman has genetic markers for cystic fibrosis, and kids with the inherited lung disease can't be near each other because they're vulnerable to contagious infections. Two siblings with cystic fibrosis also attended Colman's middle school in Palo Alto, California in 2012. So Colman was out, even though he didn't actually have the disease, according to a lawsuit that his parents filed against the school district. The allegation? Genetic discrimination.
Yes, genetic discrimination. Get used to those two words together, because they're likely to become a lot more common. With DNA tests now cheap and readily available, the number of people getting tests has gone way up—along with the potential for discrimination based on the results. When Colman's school tried to transfer him based on his genetic status, the lawsuit alleges, the district violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and Colman's First Amendment right to privacy. "This is the test case," says the Chadam's lawyer, Stephen Jaffe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2016, @09:23PM
Parents 1 and 2 of kid 1 mentioned it to the school, who (IMHO) violated their duties in this regard and told parents 3, 4, 5 and 6 of kids 2 and 3 about kid 1 and they flipped out, forcing the school's hand. Sounds pretty straight forwards to me, the school was at fault for telling parents 3, 4, 5, and 6. Like your waitress telling the neighboring table you just told her you're HIV positive and they flip out.
(Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday February 03 2016, @10:20PM
parents 3, 4, 5 and 6 of kids 2 and 3
Kids 2 and 3 are siblings, so I have no idea what's going on in that house.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2016, @10:37PM
> Like your waitress telling the neighboring table you just told her you're HIV positive and they flip out.
Not like that. Your waitress doesn't really have any responsibility to maintain your privacy, especially if you tell them something irrelevant to serving food. But a school has all kinds of responsibilities for the privacy and security of the children which attend - in loco parentis cuts both ways.