Maryland Code, Health-General § 13-102

(1) Everyone in this State is entitled to the highest level of health care attainable and protection from inadequate health services;

(2) Hereditary and congenital disorders are often costly and tragic and sometimes deadly burdens to the health and well-being of the citizens of this State;

(3) Detection through screening for hereditary and congenital disorders can:

(4) Hereditary and congenital disorders differ in severity, in that:

(5) Most, if not all, individuals are carriers of some hereditary disorder and are substantially unaffected by that fact;

(6) A carrier of a hereditary disorder should not be discriminated against or stigmatized;

(7) Medical knowledge of the discovery, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of hereditary and congenital disorders is expanding rapidly and often at an uneven rate, so that hereditary and congenital disorders are discovered long before their treatment or cure can be found;

(8) Legislation designed to alleviate the problems associated with specific hereditary and congenital disorders may tend to be inflexible in the face of rapidly expanding medical knowledge;

(9) The policy of this State on hereditary and congenital disorders should be:

(10) Participation in a hereditary and congenital disorders program should be wholly voluntary, and all information obtained about any individual in a hereditary and congenital disorders program should be kept confidential; and

(11) A commission is needed: