Eddy Curry's DNA

DNA and basketball. What a combination!

Eddy Curry was drafted out of high school by the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. He didn't do very much until last year. Then, when he was finally making a difference, he had to stay out of the last few games, including the playoffs, because of an irregular heartbeat. (Reggie Lewis, who was at the time the star player for the Boston Celtics, died of a similar, or identical ailment, several years ago. Some might say that the Celtics haven't recovered yet.)

The Bulls have traded him to the New York Knicks, but the Knicks, understandably, are concerned about his health problems, and want to administer a DNA test. Curry, as I understand it, isn't letting them do it, on the grounds that his DNA is his, and this would be an invasion of privacy. He is also apparently concerned that a DNA test might discover other potential problems, which might either prevent the Knicks from hiring him, or make it difficult or impossible to obtain health insurance.

This is a big question. Should an employer have a right to test someone for a possible future health problem before hiring? Should insurance companies have the right to test persons, and then refuse them coverage for ailments they discover in such tests? Should insurance companies have access to DNA tests conducted for other purposes? In case you didn't know it, you read it here first: health insurance companies don't want to cover anyone who is going to get sick, in spite of the fact that that's why people get health insurance--to help them if they do get sick. HR 1227 attempts to deal with this problem by protecting individuals from prying insurance companies. Previous bills of this nature have not passed, in spite of supposedly wide support (this one has 126 co-sponsors). I'm guessing that insurance interests have lobbied heavily against this bill.

In the remote chance that anyone cares about my other posts on basketball, you can find them here. Thanks for reading.