It is not surprising there are plans to include genetic information, in the form of genomic pathology reports, in My Health records.

Precision medicine – using insights obtained from genomics and other "big data" analysis – enables treatment and prevention strategies to be customised, potentially revolutionising healthcare. The government has committed financially to precision medicine. Genomic pathology testing is an increasingly important tool in the diagnostic arsenal. The inclusion of genomic testing results in the My Health record is consistent with inclusion of other pathology test results, increasing the amount of clinically useful information available to healthcare providers in My Health, but also contributing to a valuable research dataset.

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But genetic pathology test results are fundamentally different from other pathology results. The shared nature of genetic material – received by individuals, along with their siblings, from their parents, and in turn transmitted to their children – means that information about the genetics of a patient necessarily reveals, or allows educated inferences about, the genetics of other people not the subject of the My Health Record.

The lack of transparency about the inclusion of genomic pathology results in My Health is troubling. It suggests policymakers are either unaware of that fundamental difference, and privacy and autonomy implications for patients and their genetic relatives, or are aware of concerns, but are dismissive of them.