Scaring women away from an amino is also disgusting.
When there are non-invasive alternatives now available, I will absolutely encourage women to consider those options. The MaterniT21 test is nearly as accurate as an amnio, per results so far. Granted it is a very new test and thus does not have years of results behind it as amniocentesis does, but at least it poses no risk of pregnancy loss. In our specific case, we had one soft marker for trisomy 18 at our anatomy scan, but everything else indicated baby was perfectly healthy. It was not worth the risk of loss to undergo amnio. If the MaterniT21 test had come back positive, I would have wanted an amnio before making any further decisions on whether to continue the pregnancy, as a very small percentage of M21 tests do result in a false positive. Amnio is the only truly 100% accurate testing method, but IMO the risk of loss was too great to consider it as our first option.
I am confused. Which part are you surprised to hear?
FWIW, I agree that it is ridiculous to jump to suing in this case. A bad outcome does not mean there was malpractice.
Surprised to hear that an attorney would consider a lawsuit after an infection. I recall the risks being thoroughly explained to me when I was offered the amnio. I imagine the disclosures are even more thorough if you elected to actually have one (I declined).
Yikes... I was about as far from an ambulance chaser as you could get and saw enough frivolous litigation coming at me to last my whole career. My comment, that I would *consider* a lawsuit, was based on the description that the woman "got some kind of terrible infection due to the amnio." It almost sounded like the needle wasn't sterile. It is the first thing I thought of given the language the OP used. If that was the case, then the woman could potentially have a cause of action. That's all I meant by "consider." Otherwise, I doubt there is anything there legally. There are risks to everything, and I do not advocate suing any time something goes wrong. At all.
I'm sorry for your friend, Anna, and agree that some kind of care package would be nice.
Post by drloretta on Sept 13, 2012 13:40:56 GMT -5
Definitely send something. Acknowledging her loss isn't going to make it worse. It's going to show you care. Sadly there will be some people who will want to sweep it under the rug.
Definitely send something. Acknowledging her loss isn't going to make it worse. It's going to show you care. Sadly there will be some people who will want to sweep it under the rug.
Post by bronxgirl on Sept 13, 2012 20:07:03 GMT -5
I'm so sorry for your friend. I agree that you should do something for her like you suggested. One of my friend's lost her baby after an amnio as well and it was heartbreaking. Luckily she got PG again and is expecting a baby boy in acouple months. She had an amnio with her first child (born before the loss) and with her current PG.