Wrongful birth litigation and prenatal screening

Wrongful birth claims may increase in Canada if physicians do not adhere to new 2007 practice guidelines that recommend prenatal screening for chromosomal abnormalities be offered to all pregnant women, write Dr. Jeff Nisker and Roxanne Mykitiuk in CMAJ.

Screening was previously offered only to women aged 35 and over.

The authors recommend education and counselling for clinicians and patients, with sensitivity towards disabled people and to pregnant women to accept or refuse testing.

"Although these guidelines emphasize the obligation of respect for reproductive autonomy and for disabled people, the fact that a clinician may be legally liable if prenatal screening in not offered to a pregnant women and her child is born with a condition that could have been predetermined promotes tension between these obligations," conclude the authors.