The emergence of genomics, the study of genes and its arrangements and interactions, has a role insurers should be taking note of, a recently released report by Swiss Re found.

The report entitled “Genomics: Litigation Risks and Rewards,” suggests genomic bears relevance in claims and litigation for personalized medicine and healthcare as well as personal injury and mass tort litigation as genomic evidence has been used in several cases concerning claims.

The report detailed how insurers who are concerned with healthcare and physician medical malpractice ought to appreciate the use of testing as well as the expertise in understanding and communicating results, commitment to emerging guidelines, and protocol consistency.

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“Insurers must be aware of the increasing affordability of such testing which will make the selection, breadth, expertise, and interpretation of testing issues of growing relevance to medical practices,” the report read.

Casualty insurers also need to look into genomics as the accessibility and credibility of genomic evidence showed that there were new ways to defend cases involving individual injury and mass tort.

“While in theory genomics provides neutral information which could be favorable to the defense or plaintiff, in practice we expect to see disputes between experts regarding how to interpret the significance of certain genetic variations. There will also be challenges to testing accuracy,” the report stated.

It further pointed out the possibility of an insurer panel counsel’s lack of awareness when it comes to genomics and whether it may be appropriate for consideration in certain cases. This means that insurers needed to converse with counsels in order to increase awareness and education about utilizing genomics as a defensive tool.

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