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Comment by xupybd | Hacker News Reader

My friends baby tested positive for down syndrome in one of the early screenings. They suggested termination. When my friend asked what the chances were they said on that test they had a 1 in 100 chance of down syndrome.

That baby did not have down syndrome and is now a happy seven year old.

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We were given 1 in 21 from the nuchal transparency on the 12 week scan, then we did CVS testing to find out for sure.

Terminating on 1/100 without any further testing seems crazy to me. Of course, our scans and screening were all 'free' on the NHS, so there was no cost to getting extra data.

Wait, am I reading this wrong or did they suggest abortion to avoid a mere 1% risk of Down syndrome?

1% of completely ruining your life and your baby life ?. Not a chance i would take personally.

How early was this screening? I've not heard of a 1 in 100 chance, and I really struggle to believe medical practitioners would be suggesting termination. I suspect something was lost in translation when you were told the story.

It's a 13 week scan here. This is seen as a low chance result. When the father asked what were the options they said they had three. First termination, second additional monitoring and finally ignoring the result and carrying on. He asked what would be the options if further monitoring found down syndrome. They said the options would be to terminate or not. He said in either case they would keep the baby so no further testing was required.

I think the doctor felt that early termination was a better result than later termination.

When he told me this story he was confused as to why they didn't start by finding out if the parents would keep the baby regardless. He saw it as a waste of resources as in their situation termination was never on the cards.

https://healthed.govt.nz/products/antenatal-screening-and-te...

What is your point, that variance exists? I'm not sure I'd play Russian roulette even with a 100 chamber cylinder. 99 people might come away with an anecdote though.

My point is simply to tell an anecdote that illustrates the different views on down syndrome babies.

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