Mark Henderson, science editor of the [UK] Times, says the prospect of a reliable and risk-free prenatal blood test for Down syndrome points up the need to educate medical professionals on how to counsel prospective parents about the tests and the results. An excerpt:

At present, only about 32,000 high-risk women [in the UK] are offered tests that diagnose Down’s reliably, after full counseling about the implications. When the new procedure comes in, 20 times this number will be suitable for such accurate diagnosis. There is a real danger that without detailed planning, not all of them will get the counseling they need to make informed decisions about how much they want to know, and how they might deal with unwelcome news.

The success of a Down’s blood test will require more than clever science. Just as important will be careful thought about how it will be delivered by health professionals, and explained to pregnant women and their partners.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Down syndrome, abortion, commentary, ethics, genetics, prenatal diagnosis, selective termination. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.