ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the questions about genetic counseling, sketching a theory that we believe has the power to root this practice in existence as ordinary people experience it. Martin Buber's relational ontology provides the theoretical framework within which geneticists can learn how to counsel their clients in a morally appropriate way. The geneticist must search with each patient for that patient's good, never imposing his or her own good on the patient. The geneticist is armed with the official authority of expertise, whereas his patient has only the unofficial voice of experience. The geneticist seemed unconcerned about their encounter, confident that he had the situation under control. The geneticist, taking care with his words, tried to explain that certain families are genetically predisposed to getting certain kinds of breast cancer. The unexpectedness of Maria's response permits us to consider the complex responsibilities of geneticists who deal with biological information of great import.
