It would be wrong to simply put it in the notes and not tell her. "Once an ultrasound operator has seen something on a scan which is a variation of the norm, that information belongs to the woman. How can the process of offering women screening tests for foetal abnormality be organised to minimise the trauma and stress?Ms Joanie Dimavicius, director of the charity Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC), does not believe that it is possible to run a system that does not raise anxiety "Anxiety is part of the testing process," she says. But by this time I had had five scans and wanted to feel like a normal pregnant woman."Polly's experience is far from unique and raises an important question. "I felt our medical care had been good and the doctors felt that they were acting in our best interests. That turned out to be normal, but the doctor still recommended regular scans up to birth.At 28 weeks, however, Polly, who is a writer and co-author of the book Downshifting: The Guide to Happier, Simpler Living, felt she had had enough. We didn't know what we would do if the amniocentesis was positive."After the amniocentesis, the couple, who live in Lewisham, south London, had to wait another three weeks for the result.
Much to their relief, it came back normal, but the saga did not end there. At her 20-week scan, Polly was told that an enlarged nuchal fold could also be a sign of a heart abnormality, so she was sent to Great Ormond Street Hospital for a heart scan. The senior doctor recommended that Polly undergo an amniocentesis (see box), which would provide a definitive diagnosis. That test could not be done until she was 15 and a half weeks pregnant, which meant waiting three weeks."It was devastating It was only 12 days after the death of my mother We went on holiday but we could not think about much else We kept noticing children with Down's Syndrome everywhere. Polly and Alan were told that the baby had a one in four chance of having Down's Syndrome.
It was a clearer, state- of-the-art scan."The new scan revealed, in greater detail, what the first one had suggested - that the nuchal fold was much larger than normal. Because we were going on holiday to Tunisia the next day, the doctors kindly arranged for a second one later that day. We had to go back to the clinic and talk to a doctor."He told us that the baby's nuchal fold, which is the skin at the back of the baby's neck, was abnormally large and, as that could indicate a chromosomal abnormality, we would have to come back for another scan. The Thorntons' baby, Jessie, was born in March 1997, in perfect health and with no chromosomal abnormalities, but the couple's highly sophisticated, first-class medical care had turned the middle of Polly's pregnancy into a nightmare. "When we went to that first scan, it was wonderful to see the baby move and to be shown the heart beat," Polly says "But then the operator went quiet and fetched someone else They both looked at the scan and looked grave We asked whether there was a problem and they were evasive. At that stage, however, staff at the hospital told her that a scan was important and she relented. In doing so, she unwittingly launched herself, and her husband Alan, on to a 15-week rollercoaster ride of scans, tests and medical consultations, which only ended when Polly was six and a half months pregnant and refused all further tests.
[...]