Top medical bodies say pregnant women should not be pressured into abortions
Top medical bodies say pregnant women should not be pressured into abortions
10 Dec 2020
Denys Kuvaiev
Top professional medical bodies have told doctors and nurses that they should not pressure pregnant women into having an abortion if their unborn child is diagnosed with a possible disability.
In a joint statement, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives, and the Society and College of Radiographers advised medics how to behave when carrying out prenatal tests for chromosome disorders such as Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome.
The UK s drug regulator issued guidelines making it clear mothers-to-be should not be inoculated until after they ve given birth, but most would be last in line anyway because of their young age.
Today’s report considers the clinical reviews of 250 cases, including the original 23 families, and found there were 13 maternal deaths at the trust.
The authors of the report expressed concerns around escalation processes, staff behaviours, the use of the labour drug oxytocin, foetal monitoring and the trust’s “culture…to keep caesarean section rates low”.
The review described the “lack of kindness and compassion” from some maternity staff at the trust as “one of the most disappointing and deeply worrying themes” that had emerged.
“Many of the cases reviewed have tragic outcomes where kindness and compassion is even more essential,” said the report. “The fact that this has found to be lacking on many occasions is unacceptable and deeply concerning.”
A&E consultant urges people to consider postponing Christmas as NHS faces huge pressure
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