EXCLUSIVE: Mother, 37, sues doctors after her baby is born with Down syndrome following mystery blood test blunder - and she would have ABORTED if she knew the result
- A mother is suing her doctors after giving birth to a child with Down syndrome
- Court hears blood test did not screen for the genetic condition it was meant to
- Another morphology test had a 'normal' result, NSW Supreme Court heard
- The parents claim they were provided with negligent and inadequate care
- Mum 'would have aborted' if she had learned prior to being 20 weeks' pregnant
A mother is suing her doctors after she gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome - which she claims she would have aborted had proper testing been done.
The baby's parents are fighting six doctors and medical companies at the New South Wales Supreme Court, after the mother gave birth to a girl with a rare form of the genetic condition in 2004.
An ultrasound specialist told the mother that her child appeared 'normal' in a morphology test, a court judgement published last month said. The doctor also carried out a scan on the amount of fluid near the baby's neck, a sign of Down syndrome, and ordered a blood test.
But the proper test was never performed on the mother's blood sample, a court has heard.
A mother is suing her doctors after she gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome - claiming she would have aborted the fetus if proper testing had been done (stock image)
The mother became pregnant at age 37.
The judgment said the woman was referred to a doctor for testing, with a blood sample referred to a pathology company.
The court was told that it's unclear whether the sample went missing, got lost in transit and pathologists simply did not do the important test.
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After realising the blood test was 'not available', the ultrasound doctor offered to carry out a morphology test on the woman.
The assessment involves a fetus being screened for features that suggest Down syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities.
'You would be in a low risk group,' the doctor reportedly told the mother, according to the judgment.
The doctor also offered to organise a procedure at 20 weeks known as amniocentisis, which comes with a 1 in 200 risk of miscarriage.
The mother received the morphology test and the baby's results were normal. But after birth the child was diagnosed with high level (60%) mosaic Down syndrome, the court heard.
The parents sued an ultrasound doctor as well as general practitioners and medical groups
The mother suffered 'nervous shock' after the baby was born, a court judgment said
The parents commenced legal action in 2014 against six defendants, including general practitioners, the ultrasound specialist, the company that carried out pathology tests, and an organisation that carries out Down syndrome risk assessments.
'The plaintiff pleads that if she had been informed prior to 20 weeks gestation that the child she was carrying was suffering from Down syndrome she would have taken steps to have the pregnancy terminated,' Judge David Davies said.
The parents claimed in court that the mother had been provided with negligent care in relation to detecting whether the child had Down syndrome.
In his decision last month, Justice David Davies SC refused to grant leave to allow the couple to rely on some expert reports in their evidence, including one which related to new allegations of negligence about the morphology scan by the ultrasound doctor.
The couple wanted to use an expert report to allege that the ultrasound doctor had failed to properly measure the baby's nuchal translucency, or fluid at the back of its neck. Down syndrome babies have an increased amount of fluid in this area.
But the ultrasound doctor who conducted that scan died in 2016.
The judge ruled the evidence would be prejudiced against the doctor's estate because she is not alive to provide evidence. The case returns to court in February.
