Rebirthing the clinic : the interaction of clinical judgement and genetic technology in the production of medical science.

Latimer, Joanna and Featherstone, Katie and Atkinson, Paul and Clarke, Angus and Pilz, Daniela T. and Shaw, Alison (2006) Rebirthing the clinic : the interaction of clinical judgement and genetic technology in the production of medical science. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 31 (5). pp. 599-630. ISSN 0162-2439

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Abstract

The article reconsiders the nature and location of science in the development of genetic classification. Drawing on field studies of medical genetics, we explore how patient categorization is accomplished in between the clinic and laboratory. We focus on dysmorphology, a specialism concerned with complex syndromes that impair physical development. We show that dys-morphology is about more than fitting patients into prefixed diagnostic categories and that diagnostic process is marked by moments of uncertainty, ambiguity, and deferral. We describe how different forms of evidence are brought into play and how patterns of physical features are identified as genetic or not. We suggest that clinical categorical work helps articulate the genetic as an emergent domain of medical classification and that moments of ambiguity and deferral create an imperative space that helps legitimate the need for more technoscience, and consequently, more clinical judgment with which to fix the genetic future.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Science, Technology, and Human Values
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000/2002
Subjects:
?? dysmorphology • genetic science • molecular technology • clinical classification • medical knowledgeeconomics and econometricssocial sciences (miscellaneous)philosophysociology and political sciencegeneral engineeringanthropologyhuman-computer interaction ??
ID Code:
24074
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
27 Feb 2009 09:26
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
16 Jul 2024 08:27