Mother who sued NHS over Down’s baby wins payout
I was denied test for condition, she claims
‘I did not want my child to suffer’
A MOTHER whose son’s Down’s syndrome went undetected is to receive damages from the NHS. Edyta Mordel, 33, sued her NHS trust over its failure to diagnose the condition.
She claimed she had asked for a screening and would have undergone further tests to confirm the diagnosis if it had detected signs of the syndrome.
Although she is now devoted to four-year-old Aleksander – born January 2015 – Miss Mordel and her partner, Lukasz Cieciura, said they would have terminated the pregnancy if they had known he would have the condition.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust contended that Miss Mordel had declined the initial test but later regretted her decision.
But, giving judgment at the High Court in London on Tuesday, Mr Justice Jay ruled in Miss Mordel’s favour – paving the way for her to receive a payout. The size of the payout was not mentioned in the ruling but it is likely to be a six-figure sum.
The judge said Miss Mordel had booked for all tests, including the initial screening for Down’s syndrome, at an appointment in June 2014.
However, when asked by a sonographer the following month if she wanted the screening, she declined. The sonographer then carried out the rest of the scan without the initial test for Down’s syndrome.
Aleksander was diagnosed with the condition hours after his birth and medical records noted his parents were ‘angry and upset’. Giving evidence at a hearing in July, Miss Mordel, of Reading, said she was sure she always wanted the screening and had booked it for herself.
She said in her witness statement: ‘I knew someone from work with Down’s syndrome. I saw how difficult his life is and I would not have continued my pregnancy.
‘I would not have wanted a disabled child and I would not have wanted my child to suffer the way that disabled people suffer. I wouldn’t want to have brought my child into the world like that.’
Mr Cieciura said in his evidence that if the screening had been carried out and showed a risk of Down’s syndrome, they would have opted for further tests. He added: ‘If, following these further tests, we’d found out that Aleksander had Down’s syndrome, we would have terminated the pregnancy.
‘We would have discussed it and thought that termination was right. We would have known that the problems that Aleksander has now he will have for the rest of his life.’
Mr Justice Jay found that Miss Mordel – who is originally from Poland – had misunderstood the sonographer’s question when she declined having the test.
The judge concluded that both the sonographer and a midwife who conducted a follow-up appointment ‘failed to discharge their duty’ to Miss Mordel by not querying her apparent refusal to have the test, in light of her earlier indication that she wanted it.
He said the trust amended its policy relating to screening following Aleksander’s birth.
Ruling in Miss Mordel’s favour, he said: ‘On balance, and in the light of all the evidence and the inferences to be drawn from it, I have concluded that the claimant probably would have proceeded to invasive testing had she been told that there was a high risk of Down’s syndrome.
‘The claimant was a relatively young mother and I think that at the end of the day the fear that she might be carrying a child with Down’s syndrome would, at least for her, have tipped the balance.’