The Pregnancy Of A Foetus Diagnosed With Down Syndrome

. Down syndrome is not a disease that someone catches and is not caused by difficulties during the pregnancy, it is a genetic condition. This condition is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in the body’s cells and causes a redundant amount of proteins to be formed. All cells of the body derive from a single cell formed by the fusion of a father’s sperm and a mother’s egg. Each cell carries a nucleus full of genetic material known as genes. These genes are inherited from both the mother and father. Each cell normally contains 46 pairs of chromosomes. 23 chromosomes come from one parent and 23 from the other, hence the 46 pairs. When it comes to children with down syndrome, one of the chromosomes does not separate properly and so the

Once faced with the fact you have a Down Syndrome baby however, the baby will

Thousands of babies are born a day in the United States. One out every 691 babies born has Down syndrome, a disorder caused by an extra copy of the chromosome twenty one. In short, this syndrome shortens the person’s life span, and causes assorted severity of mental retardation. Those carrying this extra chromosome have flattened noses, rounder faces, are petite in size, and are much more prone to additional unhealthy disturbances or effects on substantial systems in the body.

Discovering you are pregnant with a child is supposed to be one of the best days of your life, but finding out your baby has the one extra 21st chromosome could change everything. Author and national correspondent for the New York Times, Amy Harmon, fights for children and families affected by the disease in her article, “Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus.” Harmon recognizes in her article that raising a child with this disease is not easy. She provides evidence of this by including quotes and personal stories from parents and family members whose loved ones are affected by it. She illustrates a genuine passion for the growing number of parents that are “Convinced that more couples would chose to continue the pregnancies if they better appreciated what it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome”(Harmon). To better put it in perspective, an estimated 90% of women chose to have an abortion if they are given a positive diagnosis for Down syndrome.

While wrongful birth does not just represent children with down syndrome it represents all kinds of birth problems children are born with. A couple won a $4.5 million in a lawsuit for wrongful birth. The parents claimed “They would have never brought their son Bryan into the world if they had known about his horrific disabilities” (Hallowell, 2011). The parents son was born with only three limbs, no arms and one leg; however, if Dr. Marie Morel and technicians at OB/GYN specialists of the Palm Beaches did properly administered two ultrasounds and seen he was missing three limbs the parents would have terminated the pregnancy (Howell, 2011). The parents “understandably upset that they had no warning about the

“When families get a diagnosis prenatally, they use the words ‘shock’, ‘sadness’, ‘disbelief’”, says Sarah Cullen of the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. “ You feel like like the rug is pulled out from under you. You feel very heavy. You feel very, very alone” (Szabo 1). When parents receive the results of their prenatal test, many do not know what to do. They can feel very overwhelmed, because their baby is unhealthy and there may be nothing that they can do about it. Often the doctor does not know what to do either, because there may not be a cure for the disease.This kind of news alone is agonizing for parents. Mothers should not have genetic testing done to see if their baby has diseases because it causes unnecessary anxiety for the parents, tests may not always be accurate, and it is unethical.

I will first explore what medical ethics entails, then evaluate whether prenatal screening is necessary and whether it is discriminatory as claimed. Based on the benefits, success, statistical data, I will defend the perspective of physically challenged individuals by highlighting numerous success records of families with children affected from Down’s syndrome as it is widely common.

Conclusion I. Thesis Restatement: Down syndrome is the most common genetic disorder in the United States and it accounts for much of the learning disabilities found in children today. Every person with down syndrome can display different characteristics, including physical, intellectual, and emotional characteristics. There is no cure for down syndrome but its symptoms are treatable and much can be done to improve the lives of those with the disorder. II. Review: There are three forms of Down syndrome, with three different variations of having an extra chromosome 21. Although there are three different types, they all portray the same characteristics and all individuals with the disorder should receive individualized care based on their disorder.

The woman who kept her pregnancy after her child had Down syndrome was grateful “She's an incredibly happy little girl. She lights up our lives ... I've been a person who thought academic achievement was really important, and it's been a beautiful learning experience to realize that value is about the soul of the person. Molly has really helped me to sit back and enjoy the moment rather than racing to get ahead.” And the lady who terminated her pregnancy stated that “I was bullied into going ahead with an abortion," says Ideson, 46, a GP surgery manager. "I only wish I could turn back the clock. I think of the daughter I never had every day. I'll always regret it” (Tarzo, 2016) The woman who kept her baby came to acceptance that her child was a blessing just like any other child. She didn’t feel the guilt that the women who terminated her daughter felt. If Susan listened to the doctor about terminating her pregnancy it wouldn’t be Christian view, because they don’t depend on science. She will end up feeling bad about not keeping her baby, especially if encounters others mothers who are proudly raising their Down syndrome

The Journal of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disability compared the attitudes of parents of children with Down syndrome in 1970 to those parents today. Forty percent of parent’s today report they have been confronted with accusations that their child could have been avoided (Shiver 10). Although policies over the past thirty years have become supportive of people with Down syndrome, parents frequently receive the message from society that they have chosen wrongly to deliver a child with Down syndrome. Parents do not want to live through guilt or discrimination of society. Therefore, most parents choose to abort their child, if the NIPT is positive. If there were not prenatal testing, there would be no way to determine if the child has Down syndrome before birth and parents would not be questioned why they chose for their child to experience life. In comparison, in Race: A History beyond Black and White, Aronson states, “Physical differences matter. The color of our skin, the curl of our hair, the size of our nose or lips-these are important. How we look is not just a personal matter; it identifies of a larger group” (Aronson 3). Physical differences matter, because those with Down syndrome often portray a small nose, a small mouth, upward eye slant, and flat back of the head. In society, those without the disease are prejudiced against people with Down syndrome, even though they are capable of big accomplishments. “We, those like us, those we find beautiful, are superior. You, those unlike us, those we find alien, are inferior. And yet the idea itself is so powerful because it confirms our ancient sense that those who look different are aliens and enemies” (Aronson 127). A binary has been created in society, that those with Down syndrome are less since they have distinct characteristics. Society negatively influenced parents of those with Down syndrome,

Life defined by the Oxford Dictionary is “The condition or attribute of living or being alive; animate existence. Opposed to death or inanimate existence” (Life n., 2015). A person with a mental or physical disabilities by the definition above, despite their disabilities, still has life. There however is a heated conversation on the worth and quality of life of someone with disabilities specifically Down’s Syndrome. The discussion is on the subject of whether allowing the life of someone born with Downs Syndrome, and all the hardships that come with it, is a life worth starting. This paper will take a look at the Ethical Dilemma of aborting babies with Down Syndrome, the Christian worldview of the quality of life, and the options that can be

Two of the main methods, or tests, used to tell whether a child has Down syndrome or not are a screening test and a diagnostic test. The screening test doesn’t give a for sure answer, but an educated guess, which is typically accurate. These screenings typically include a blood test, to measure the quantity of various substances in the mother’s blood, and an ultrasound, to be able to see if there are any noticeable physical features which are typical of a child with Down syndrome. The diagnostic test has two different procedures. There’s the chorionic villus sampling, CVS, and amniocentesis. Both of these tests are always accurate and can even distinguish which type of Down syndrome the child has if it has the disorder (Diagnosis). With these tests, there is a small chance of a miscarriage, but that typically isn’t an issue. If the tests aren’t taken into place before the child is born, the doctor can usually diagnose the child right after being born by relating its physical symptoms to the ones of Down syndrome. Once diagnosed with Down syndrome, the next step is treatment

When such a condition is detected, or highly suspected, what then? According to Farrell et al., (2014) physicians are most concerned with the ethical issue of pregnancy termination. In the case of Down Syndrome, this is with good cause. A systemic review by Natoli, Ackerman, McDermott and Edwards (2012) found a weighted mean termination rate following a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome was 67%, with a range of 61% - 93%. The evidence they presented suggested that termination rates varied according to maternal age, race, and gestational age. (These variances alone open another ethical can of worms). But one can see, after only brief examination of this one genetic screen, why physicians, and society in general, should be concerned. There is no concensus regarding whether or not pregnancy termination is ethical in and of itself, let alone when one decides to terminate due to knowledge of specific genetic markers or

The Poster session was very informative, it had various topics that had information on relevant health issues. One the posters that caught my attention was “To explore the impact of psychological counseling on pregnant women who are at high risk for carrying a fetus with down syndrome” by Fatima Riaz. The aim of that study was to research the impact of psychological counseling on pregnant women who were 35 years old or above which are at a high risk of having a child born with Down syndrome. The objective was to minimize the anxiety and psychological stress mothers endure after receiving those abnormal test results. One of the things I personally learned was that its an issue that is indeed relevant, I was told by the presenter that 95% of pregnant women terminate their pregnancy once they are informed through screening that their child will be born with Down Syndrome.

a genetic disorder, associated with the presence of an extra chromosome 21, characterised by mild to severe mental impairment, weak muscle tone, shorter statue, and flattened facial profile. Also know as Trisomy 21... Down syndrome has replaced earlier terms, such as mongolism to refer to the disease and Mongoloid