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On your note of missed idagnosis - my firends baby has 'global'
damage and CP and was blind at birth, has siezures and has a host of
other problems
She had ultrasounds, and an amniosentisis ( however that is spelt??)
and the diagnosis was that all was fine. The only complication at
birth was the cord was around his neck a few times - this may have
contributed to his problems, however her first baby had the cord around
the neck too and is fine.
She had all of the tests with the belief that she would not cope with
a baby that had problems.
She is coping wonderfully and has adapted well to the huge life
changes this baby has made to her life.
What is meant to be is meant to be. No matter how we try to
control our lives - these things just happen.
Regards
Rhonda
-------Original Message-------
Date: Saturday,
November 16, 2002 15:09:49
Subject: [ozmidwifery]
Ultrasounds
Dear Jodie & List,
I agree with Marilyn that there are lots of
other signs that make the pregnancy real - fetal movements are not the
only ones. There are plenty of changes in your body &
mind.
Another negative aspect of ultrasound that
hasn't really been discussed is the amount of times they get it wrong, or
see something 'unusual' but have no idea what it means.
Here's just a small selection of ultrasound
stuff-ups that I have seen in my practice
- a baby with only two chambers in it's heart
- this was missed on 2 ultrasounds
- a woman with a Grade 4 placenta previa -
missed on 3-4 ultrasounds
- a baby that had 'ascites' detected on
ultrasound - this woman was transferred to the capital city thousands of
kms away from family & friends, and the baby delivered
prematurely. It didn't have ascites or any other detectable
abnormality, but now has a host of problems resulting from prematurity and
long separations from its mother.
Imagine the different scenario if she's never
had the routine ultrasound in the first place.
- a baby that had 'shadows' on its heart on
ultrasound. No-one could tell the woman what this meant. This
considerably increased her anxiety levels - not reduced them. The
baby was and is perfectly healthy.
- There have also been a number of cleft
palates that have been missed, countless heart defects that have either
been missed or are not detectable on ultrasound, a missed spinal
defect.
- Weight predictions that are often wrong -
by up to 1.5kg.
These were done by a variety of
ultrasonongraphers using a variety of equipment.
How can anyone be reassured by ultrasound,
when they are so unreliable?
They are not a perfect tool, but their use is
sometimes warranted when there is an indication - then they are not used
alone in diagnosis, but as one part of a complete assessment. I
don't believe that they should be used routinely or for social
reasons. We don't give people the choice of having social xrays, CT
scans etc - because there are potential negative aspects of their
use. We only use these technologies when we have an indication, not
because someone wants to see a picture of their brain, etc.
Routine use of ultrasounds only serves to
fill the pockets of private companies.
Well, that's my say.
Jacky
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