NHS liability ruling on Down’s is pernicious
An international study of families with a Down’s Syndrome member showed that while 25 per cent saw this as a tragedy when first aware, in time this dropped to 0.68 per cent.
I wonder if a question on how children in general turn out would reveal so few families thinking in retrospect it had all been a bit of a “tragedy”? Down’s is different – but very far from tragic.
I hope that survey and similar positive evidence are included in information to prospective parents faced with decisions about “testing” to discover whether they might – repeat might – have a baby with Down’s.
Hope but doubt – for the drift of public policy is towards elimination rather than empathy; encouraging fear of the unknown in order to remove a social inconvenience rather than promotion of understanding.
The models are Denmark and Iceland, where close to 100 per cent elimination has been achieved.
They create a desert and call it peace. Which condition will be next for such clinical, Scandinavian efficiency?
A couple in Berkshire are waiting to know how much “compensation” the NHS will have to pay after a pernicious High Court judgment that failed to identify the “risk” of a Down’s birth made the hospital liable. So now pressure will be even greater to identify in order to eliminate – even though it leads to more non-down’s than Down’s terminations.
I unconditionally support the right to choose – but choice must be based on balanced information rather than pressure and prejudice.
People with Down’s and other conditions then suffer from double jeopardy – the fewer there are, the less obligation there is to make decent provision for their needs. Progress comes in some very strange forms.