I am going to post a recent article (sports-related) that touches on this, want to see what y'all think... Curry's DNA fight with Bulls 'bigger than sports world' By Jim Litke, Associated Press CHICAGO -- Until last spring, Eddy Curry was just another cautionary tale about kids drafted before their time. The Chicago Bulls plucked the 6-foot-11 manchild out of high school in 2001, and he played his first three seasons more flabby than feared. But Curry showed up for the final year of his rookie contract 40 pounds lighter, converted some of that enormous potential into production, and made the Bulls think they might yet see a return on their considerable investment. Then, before a March 30 game at Charlotte, Curry's heart skipped a few beats. And then, a few more. Nearly six months later, after a diagnosis of benign arrythmia sent the 22-year-old scurrying to cardiologists from coast to coast and cost him the rest of the season, Curry finds himself in a fight with Bulls management his lawyer calls "far bigger than just the sports world." At issue is the one-year, $5 million deal Chicago offered Curry, with this proviso: before he sets foot on the court, Curry must submit to DNA testing. "Think about what's at stake here," said Alan Milstein, Curry's attorney. "As far as DNA testing, we're just at the beginning of that universe. Pretty soon, though, we'll know whether someone is predisposed to cancer, alcoholism, obesity, baldness and who knows what else. "Hand that information to an employer," he added, "and imagine the implications. If the NBA were to get away with it, what about everyone else in this country looking for a job." Chicago general manager John Paxson insists the Bulls can test Curry as part of a routine physical when training camp opens next week. Milstein calls that notion "flat-out wrong," and one already rejected by the players' union during the last collective bargaining agreement. "Besides, there are privacy laws on the books, both state and federal, so there's no way they'd win," he added. "It makes you wonder what they're really worried about." Milstein isn't the only one asking. Miami Heat forward Antoine Walker, like Curry a Chicago native, played pickup games alongside the youngster the last three weeks, and the dispute has him shaking his head. "He looked fine, but a lot of teams seem concerned with risks nowadays. Maybe because the investments in players have become so big," Walker said. "Maybe the Bulls want Eddy long-term, and maybe this is some kind of bargaining chip. Either way, DNA testing is taking things a little too far." Paxson says the team's only motive is to learn whether Curry's genetic makeup leaves him susceptible to cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that combined with arrythmia, could prove fatal. He said the DNA test was suggested by Barry Maron, a world-renowned specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and complained the team's stance is unfairly being portrayed as though "we have some other motive. "The bottom line," Paxson added, "is if Eddy had not had any incident and a doctor hadn't suggested it, we wouldn't be asking for it." Curry has already been cleared to play by several prominent cardiologists, but he can't get disability insurance for his contract should he be sidelined again -- or worse -- with heart problems. "There's one guy who isn't sure," Curry told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, making his first comments in a while. "I can live with that because of what the other doctors say." If this was a private medical dispute, chances are the hype would be less and the stakes lower. But because of the liability issues, Curry's high profile, and the value a healthy, motivated big man can command in the NBA marketplace, it's become an expensive, mean-spirited mess. Besides arguing over medial opinions and the science underpinning DNA testing, both camps have recently invoked the deaths of former Celtics star Reggie Lewis and Loyola Marymount's Hank Gathers. Both suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy when they collapsed and died; what the Bulls and Curry's advisers disagree over is whether he is treading the same path. "My best guess?" Milstein said. "Eddy shows up at camp, refuses the test, we go to arbitration and the arbitrator tells the Bulls they simply can't compel him. We'll find out soon enough." That's what scares Jerome Stanley, Lewis' agent. He recalled the ride through Boston with Lewis' family in a limousine on the way to the funeral as one of the toughest things he ever had to do. Stanley said Tuesday he wishes now that DNA testing had been an option. "I've seen this movie before," he said. "Eddy Curry and his family and his agent do not believe he can drop dead and die. You know what? He can drop dead and die. It goes just like that. "If I'm the team, let the insurance be your guide," Stanley said. "The insurance won't insure it, that should tell you something. They've got the biggest group of risk managers. "Now maybe they're wrong," he added. "But if you lose the bet, you don't just lose the player. The player dies."
what's scarier is if insurance companies start asking for it. Then literally they could justify denying you insurance because you are genetically predisposed to certain conditions. And then you get a genetic underclass that isn't insurable. Really some scary **** could happen. Also look into the idea of brain fingerprinting. Another really scary development.
What's wrong with that? The insurance companies are out to make money for them and their shareholders. If you don't like the policy find someone/somewhere else.
Nothing wrong with insurance companies making mony. The only thing I'd like to see is we should also profile the DNAs of those who work in the insurance industry, making sure they themselves are not predisposed to the kind of defects which are harmful to the society.
DNA testing is just super. All decisions should be made by chemists. Individual liberties? Privacy? Bahhhh... Buncha commies, them civil libertarians. Give it up, baby. That blueprint of who you're gonna be. Let us judge the odds and let your DNA determine your opportunities. Perhaps we should be testing the kids at birth too. No sense in wasting valuable education dollars on those who are not predisposed to do well.... Land of opportunity? Well....let's see what the test results say first.
We should use genetic manipulation so in the future so everyone can be super humans: looks great, super strong, fast as hell and lives for a long time. Oh everyone should be smarter than Einstein.
There is alot "wrong" with that. I work for a company that provides benefits and administration to other companies and deal with health-carriers and clients all day long. It WOULD create an uninsurable underclass that can only have access to coverage with premiums that are astronomical or plan designs that incorporate enormous deductibles and or drastically reduced services. Thank goodness we have rights from liberal administrations that gave us FMLA to protect our jobs and STD/LTD or Workers Comp to support us while we can't work. You might get tired of hearing about HIPAA when you're at the Doctor's office, but that protects your private health information and provides coverage history that restricts insurance companies from excluding you from coverage. Yes, Insurance companies are profit enterprises and I don't begrudge them that as I have a job because of them. However, opening up exclusions based on DNA indicators for disease or potential health risk is tantamount to opening Pandora's box--where will it stop? I'm not trying to be chicken little nor do I think this will gather much steam, but we should all be concerned. I don't know what you do Mr. Brightside and you may be wealthy, great. However, I would hate to be the one to tell you after your DNA test that your are uninsurable and not worth the actuarial risk, to bad so sad. You think you would have alot of decent options? Would you be happy and keep your cavalier attitude about health care and insurance and write it off to the so called "free market"?
Great post Woulda... Insurance is a regulated industry in most parts....simply because insurance is recognized to be a necessary thing in our world. Sometimes that means the "best" business model is deemed discriminatory. And we're forced to pay slightly higher premiums. That's not necessarily bad. Theoretically, I suppose, everyone could simply self-insure. But practically, that cannot happen. We've seen that employers differentiate between 'black sounding' names. Imagine if they had info that showed you might be slightly more at risk for a heart problem, or mental illness. Kind of goes against the grain that you should lose out based on something over which you have no control. Or that anyone should have a free pass to fish through your genetic makeup because they might offer you a job. With Curry, it may be a slightly different situation. They are on the verge of committing major dollars...and they have reason to suspect a problem with his heart. (the physical heart). If DNA is the only way to test this, then they can request -- but he should have the right to refuse -- so long as controls are in place to ensure that's all they test for, he agrees they can test for it, and the samples are destroyed after. Essentially...with him, the risk has already been identified (which is why the insurance is hesitating) and DNA is a way to clear (or confirm) that risk.
Actually Einstein probably was autistic or some form close to it. I think Bill Gates shows symptoms too. I perfect genetic makeup would eliminate the freaks and thus eliminate the genuises too.
If we make everyone smarter than Einstein, who's gonna work at McDonald's? In the immortal words of Judge Smails, "the world needs ditchdiggers too!" Seriously, if everyone were intellectuals the gears of society would grind to a hault...
If everyone is smarter than Einstein we would figure out how to build robots to do everything for us. Then Arnold can come and try to save the day when the robots take over earth.
