ABSTRACT
David Winkler contacted me before making the phone call to his late patient J.S.’s aunt in the US, and we discussed the situation in detail, trying to look at it from as many angles as possible. That finding a way of communicating the information was necessary was intuitively clear to both of us, but it was not clear how and to whom the information should be disclosed. I remember that at the beginning of the conversation we understood the question to be: how should the information that the relatives of J.S. are at risk of developing hereditary systemic angiopathy (HSA) be communicated? Should it be communicated at all to the two brothers that might be affected, or to anybody else? The option of a telephone call to J.S.’s aunt was clear, but it was unclear whether it was the right thing to do. There might be other options as well, perhaps better ones.
