Lessons from a Family History

Given that my wife and I are highly overeducated physicians and Ashkenazi Jews that have been thinking about our family plans, we decided to go in for pre-conception Genetic Counseling.  Although neither of us have strong family histories of genetic diseases, we know enough (too much?) to know that we are at risk and would benefit from any advanced knowledge.  So far the experience has been very pleasant (because we haven't gotten any results yet) and quite instructive, teaching me a few lessons about health care.

Lesson 1: Glad it wasn't a physician

You can imagine that trying to get two doctors to a doctor's office during business hours takes just a little of scheduling wizardry.  I must compliment BIDMC's OB department for getting us in quickly and taking us back on schedule.  We were met by a genetic counselor who took both of our family histories and placed them on a pedigree.  While we do not have very large families, this is still a time-intensive detailed process. However, I fel…