On Monday, Veterans Day, I featured the prenatal testing guidelines for the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Administration (VA). Those guidelines make clear the need for patient counseling when offering prenatal testing for Down syndrome and other genetic conditions. Continue Reading
August 20, 2013
Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening is not the Holy Grail, and it’s wrong to call it that–Part 2 of 2
In yesterday's post, I covered why it is factually wrong to call Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening (NIPS) the "Holy Grail" of prenatal testing. Here's why it is ethically wrong to call it that. Continue Reading
June 4, 2013
You may decline prenatal testing, but you may be choosing to be sued if you do
Last week, Art Caplan, a well-known bioethicist, wrote a post for Harvard Law's Bill of Health blog. The post prompted one commenter to write, "Caplan, you are a laughable clown." Whatever did Caplan write? Continue Reading
April 8, 2013
What is the optimal prenatal testing protocol for Down syndrome?
Last week, both the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD) issued position statements on the latest developments in prenatal testing for Down syndrome. I selected highlights here. In this post, I cover what the ISPD statement claims is "optimal" for prenatal testing for Down syndrome. Continue Reading
December 4, 2012
Verinata’s Prenatal Testing Flow Chart: Unethical?
As I’ve mentioned before, on the home page there is a scroll of my twitter feed. Like this blog, I typically tweet about news related to Down syndrome and/or prenatal testing. But, sometimes Twitter’s 140-character limit is not enough to provide a thorough analysis of ethical issues. Verinata is a laboratory that developed its version of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), which has the brand name "verifi." Featured on its website is the following decision-making flow chart for prenatal Continue Reading
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