Too lazy and stupid to test? Most older women are perfectly aware that they do run a higher risk of having a child with Down Syndrome.
Some chose not to test, because they would not abort a child with DS. There are simple blood tests which do not pose a risk to the developing baby, but these are followed up with invasive tests, amniocentesis or CVS, that do risk miscarriage. There are false positives and false negatives. It can be a very informed decision not to test.
BTW, testing the father isn’t going to detect DS in the child. And some husbands and fathers would not abandon their wives for having a baby with DS.
You’re coming across contemptuous, ignorant, intolerant, and small-minded. Maybe you would abort any child with DS; maybe you could never find the grace to be happy with a child with DS, but you aren’t everyone.
And keep in mind that if you have a perfectly vetted, perfectly healthy baby, no one is immune to bad luck, illness, and accident, and you and yours may have to learn to cope with disability, far too late for abortion, and way too early for euthanasia.
I’m sorry if I come off callous or coldhearted, I apologize. I don’t mean to offend Down’s Syndrome children or those parents who make a decision together not to abort.
But it’s not the children I’m ranting about. Or even 20 or 30yo’d mothers. The nurse in me is ranting about the 40yo grown woman in the article in egg-denial, who ignored her doctor’s medical advice, ignored her own age and own physiology, ignored testing - in spite of stacks of research to support her classification as exceptionally high-risk, AND, here comes the wife in me - who didn’t even bother to involve the husband in counseling. Who was she married to? herself?
I don’t see how any of those actions equate to mature or responsible parenting, responsible decision-making within the marriage or responsible preparation for a child highly likely to be born with severe ongoing medical issues, needing both parents fully on board, mentally and financially. There is no reason, in this day and age, for a middle-aged husband to be ‘surprised’.
Genetic counseling for middle-aged couples, prior to pregnancy, done together, followed by timely screening for abnormalities that both parents are made aware of, is as essential for a successful outcome for the child as is testing for incompatible blood types between 18yo potential newlyweds.
Amniocentesis carries a low overall risk - a 1/1,600 chance of spontaneous abortion. Measured against the 1/30 probability of 40yo’s having a DS child, and the 1/6 mortality rate in DS infants during the first year, it’s an acceptable risk to learn exactly what a parent is going to have to deal with.
some non-invasive tests by trimester:
First trimester:
“In the first trimester, ultrasound...Soft markers are findings that... might indicate that the baby has an underlying chromosome abnormality....If your nuchal translucency screening is positive, you will be referred to a genetic counselor”
http://downsyndrome.about.com/od/whatcausesdownsyndrome/a/analytes_ro_2.htm
Second trimester:
“Second Screen is a blood test performed in the second trimester of pregnancy...[and] can detect 7 or 8 out of 10 cases of Down syndrome.
http://www.geneticstesting.com/patient_info/secondscreen_patient.htm
second trimester sonogram markers:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130101839.htm
third trimester sonogram:
sonographic identification of Down’s Syndrome:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10912971