Would you want to know if your genes predisposed you to a disease – even if that disease would kill you?
But while genetic testing is increasingly becoming a feature for those diagnosed with cancer, NHS predictive testing for " unaffected " family members is under pressure from ever-increasing demand.
" There's a real log jam, " says Professor Gareth Evans, medical genetics consultant at Manchester Foundation Trust and professor of cancer epidemiology and medical genetics at the University of Manchester.
If you don't have cancer but have significant family history and, like Jolie, are approaching the age your relatives were diagnosed or died, you are referred through the NHS genetics service - instead of your hospital's oncology department, he adds.
" If you want to be tested and you're unaffected, the NHS doesn't have enough genetic counsellors to cope with the number of referrals coming in, " Professor Evans says.
'Ticking time bombs'
Tracie Miles, from the gynaecological cancer rese...
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