Genetic Blood Test for Down Syndrome? Not Yet

Interesting Information

I found lots of interesting information on health.usnews.com. The post was professionally written and I feel like the author has extensive knowledge in the subject. health.usnews.com keep it that way.

Some positive thoughts...

Please consider the fact that current procedures (invasive) give a false positive reading of about 15% of all women tested. That means this newer, non-invasive test will actually help to reduce the number of abortions, therefore actually saving lives. Indeed, there might come a time, let's hope soon, when doctors will be able to rectify a genetic disorder before birth takes place Let's stay positive about positive developments in life, wherever we might find them. This includes the love and happiness & joy of parents who have children with Downs.

genocide

As a fetal medicine specialist, it is is fascinating to have witnessed the changing attitudes and methods used in screening for Down syndrome (DS) over the years.

What we all forget is that the majority of governments would like to see all pregnancies screened and the pregnancies terminated with DS terminated.

This can be seen as a move forward, to remove the imperfect, the save society money, to save families the hardship of challenging times etc etc

As so eloquently described above by the parent of a child with DS - DS is the same as being white black yellow or pink colour. we as a society have to seriously perform a reality check and look inwards to ourselves as the strength of a society is measured by the manner in which we care for our weakest. For this reason are we as a society just far to selfish to contemplate 'imperfection' as viewed by some?

Your article is informative and I can see that this is simply reporting something scientific but at the same time the ethical issues are even more important perhaps for us all to consider ever again.

Down syndrome

As a parent of a child who just happens to have Down syndrome I have to say that I was rather offended by the use of several statements in : "Genetic Blood Test For Down Syndrome Not Yet".

"which babies carry the Down genetic defect " We as parents of children with trisomy 21 do not consider our children as having a "DEFECT" and it is certainly not a "Down" defect. Our children are children who happen to have Down syndrome...not a Downs child.

"But, as I previously reported, a combination test is already available that's about 95 percent reliable for identifying Down, without posing any risk of miscarriage." IDENTIFYING DOWN SYNDROME WOULD HAVE BEEN A MORE APPROPRIATE WORDING. People first language is something that you, as a writer, should look into.

baby's neck (another sign of Down). AGAIN....ANOTHER SIGN OF DOWN SYNDROME WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE APPROPRIATE. OUR CHILDREN ARE CHILDREN FIRST AND NOT A SYNDROME

result indicating that a baby has Down still needs to be confirmed using a needle-in-the-abdomen. HAS DOWN...AGAIN HAS DOWN SYNDROME!!!

With October being Down Syndrome Awareness month...people first wording would be appreciated. Please visit the National Down Syndrome Society for information on presenting appropriate language in text.