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You can’t tell by looking at me, but I’m a genetic mutant. My mother is, too, as were my aunt and grandmother.
Our mutation is a chromosomal defect that puts us at increased risk for cancers of the colon, uterus, ovaries, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, kidney, urinary tract and brain — mostly organs it’s hard to do without.
I could tell you about another mutant relative, too, but I won’t. Not after House Republicans proposed the so-called Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act. I’m a doctor as well as a patient, so I’m taking the risk of disclosing my own defect in hopes of showing how this act would harm not just mutants like me, but also most Americans.
The legislation would enable companies to coerce employees into participating in wellness programs that could require them to undergo genetic testing and provide genetic information about themselves and their families. Although discriminating against workers with genetic abnormalities would be prohibited, it would be very difficult to prove that discrimination had taken place. Employers might simply invoke other reasons for hiring and...