Abstract
Screening is the process of identifying healthy individuals who may be at an increased risk of a disease or condition. Screening in pregnancy is offered to all eligible women to assess their risk of having a baby with Trisomy 21, 18 or 13 or their risk of a number of congenital anomalies. The screening programme will identify those women at higher risk and offer them further investigations. Women should have early access to the screening programme in order to make an informed choice regarding their options and these choices should be supported by healthcare professionals. They should be informed that the screening programme will not detect all abnormalities and be aware of the difference between screening and diagnostic tests. Once identified, high-risk patients should be managed according to an agreed protocol in a timely manner. Litigation in this field is centred around wrongful birth and as such has major cost implications as these costs may include the long-term care of affected individuals.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Fetal anomaly screening programme—standards.
NICE clinical guideline CG62. Antenatal care for uncomplicated pregnancies. Published March 2008. Latest update January 2017.
NHSLA. Ten years of maternity claims. An analysis of NHS Litigation Authority Data. October 2012.
Royal college of Obstetricians (RCOG) green top guideline No.8. June 2010.
Anumba DO. Errors in prenatal diagnosis. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2013;27(4):537–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2013.04.007.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ferriman, E., Anumba, D. (2018). Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis. In: Jha, S., Ferriman, E. (eds) Medicolegal Issues in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78683-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78683-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78682-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78683-4
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)