News

Over the last several years, parents from across the country have appeared on television and news outlets to raise money to develop treatments for their children with rare genetic disorders.

Many of these families, including one from Kansas City, Missouri, have pinned their hopes on one Texas researcher, Dr. Steven Gray of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, who claims to be on the verge of treating a number of rare conditions. They’ve raised millions of dollars to fund his research, although breakthroughs haven’t happened to the extent many had hoped.

While gene therapy holds great promise, the growing trend of family-funded research concerns some medical ethicists, who say that suggestions to parents that treatments may be imminent can raise thorny ethical issues.

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Photo by Alex Smith/KCUR