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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Doctor's made an error - Unnecessary CVS - Do we complain?

5 replies

BabyOnBoard90 · 03/11/2021 00:39

Hello all,

Had our first scan on Monday this week, quite exciting and surreal initially. We were 12w+5d based on last period, but gestational measurements place baby at 13w+6days.

however things dampened quite quickly when doctor advised that blood test indicated high chance of baby having down syndrome. 1 in 2 chance of DS actually, which needless to say is exceptionally high. Worth noting that baby looked absolutely normal anatomically, nuchal translucency levels were also within normal range and mother is relatively young (under 30).

Doctor suggested we have a chorionic villus sample test (CVS) to confirm status. Needless to say there was a lot of anxiety and disconcertment, but we decided to push ahead. What we anticipated in being a brief joyous hour, extended to 6hours.

We were finally preparing to leave the clinic only for the doctor to advise that there had been an administrative error. Admin staff had mistakenly clicked that there was a heart defect which, coupled with blood results, gave a high probability of DS. Doctors failed to even double check that there was a heart problem.

After correcting the error, chances of DS went from 1 in2 to 1 in 5000... Needless to say we are livid that the clinic essentially carried out an invasive procedure, potentially raising risk of miscarriage, for no reason other than a misclick.

Considering our options, but the experience was incredibly traumatic for both mother and father. Has anyone else had an experience like this? Do you have suggestions on how we should proceed?

OP posts:
mummyh2016 · 03/11/2021 07:31

Make a complaint to PALS and move on. I'm sorry this happened to you but don't let it ruin the rest of your pregnancy.

Gunpowder · 03/11/2021 08:09

I’m so sorry this happened. It must have been so frightening and stressful and you must feel unbelievably frustrated that it was for nothing.

I agree to make a complaint to PALS and move on. They need a process in place so these things are always checked and hopefully your complaint will trigger that. If there is a process, why wasn’t it followed? Are they understaffed? I imagine it would help to have an apology too.

I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly. Flowers

CampagVelocet · 03/11/2021 08:10

@mummyh2016

Make a complaint to PALS and move on. I'm sorry this happened to you but don't let it ruin the rest of your pregnancy.
This.
BabyOnBoard90 · 03/11/2021 08:14

Thanks both, I'll look up PALS.

The lead doctor took responsibility and apologised at the end of the day and we were ushered out in minutes. We were just so shell shocked, for a good few hours we were anticipating heartbreak.

Anyway, we'll ultimately move on and reignite our excitement for our first child.

OP posts:
AliceS1994 · 03/11/2021 12:28

100% speak to PALS. This is really not acceptable and I'm sorry this has happened. However as no 'actual' harm occured to you and the baby (stress and heartbreak excluded) they are unlikely to take it much further than a review into what went wrong and hopefully an apology. But as this so something that could have easily been prevented it would be beneficial to other patients in the further that a more robust checking process in put in place, and might help you feel more at peace with the whole episode if you feel like some benefit is at least coming from it. Glad to hear everyone well in the end!

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