In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Doctors respond to parents of Down syndrome newborns with cruelty and callousness, blueplum wrote:
“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.”
Nonsense. “Genetic Counseling” is a fraud. EVERY time friends of mine have been through that fraud, “abnormalities” have been found. Thankfully they all ignored the “science” and carried the child to term. All but one have been fine, that one is a darling little girl with Down’s - and the happiest child I know.
Even granted that there are some airheaded fortysomethings out there, as the late DeForest Kelley might have put it, especially when the patients are that age, doctors are doctors, not parents. It’s the physician’s job to advise the prospective parents what could happen, offer the tests, and accept their decision, not browbeat them if he or she doesn’t like the answer.