Tay Sachs Disease Teaching Plan

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Tay-Sachs Disease and The Teaching Plan Tay-sachs disease is an inherited disease that is common among Ashkenazi-Jewish population. It occurs from a mutation in the HEXA gene also known as deficiency of the human chromosome 15 in DNA. This missing chromosome affects nerve cells in the brain. This disease is an autosomal recessive inheritance, “such diseases do not occur unless two genes for the disease are present, that is, a homozygous recessive pattern.” (Lippincott, 1999,p 150). There is a 25% risk of giving birth to an affected child with each pregnancy. The prognosis of a newborn infant that is born with Tay-Sachs disease is poor. Due to the complications of the disease, the average age death will occur is between 4 to 5 years old. The first symptoms usually appear between 3-6 months of age. The most common symptom that appears is a “cherry red” macula in the retina. Other symptoms may include some form of seizure, deafness, decrease eye contact,…show more content…
My decision would be to abort the pregnancy. The outlook for this couple’s future would consist of multiple prenatal appointments, consultations with different specialists and multiple testing. They may have an increase in cost for health care while pregnant and after the child is born, especially after 6 months of age. They both work 60 hours a week and are both older adults. She is 43 years old and is considered AMA, advanced maternal age. By being AMA, the patient is at risk of poorer outcomes to pregnancies because of the higher incidence of chronic medical conditions among older women. Raising a child with this diagnosis will be much more difficult than a normal child. Cultural considerations should be factored into the decision but because they are non-practicing Catholics at this time, it may be one of the less considerations to factor

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