Legal Aspects of Bilateral Mastectomies for Patients With or Without Mutated Genes

Since Angelina Jolie broke the news of herbilateral mastectomy and oophorectomy, mostbreast surgeons have regularly been facing thequestion of this type of surgery whatever the age ofthe patient.1 Familial breast cancers have received alot of media coverage. They are often aggressivewith bad prognosis, and the discovery ofpredisposing genes, such as mutated BRCA1 andBRCA2, has opened a window of hope. For the firsttime it was possible to prevent cancer by theidentification of the gene and removal of the targetedorgan.