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Informed consent to undergo serum screening for Down's syndrome: the gap between policy and practice

Psychology and Genetics Research Group, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals, Guy's Campus, London SE1 9RT University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff CF4 4XN Correspondence to: Dr Marteau.

The funding of antenatal screening programmes for Down's syndrome often emphasises laboratory aspects of the tests to the neglect of the counselling components. It is widely agreed that the decision about whether to undergo prenatal screening should be made by the pregnant woman on the basis of good information.¹ The high uptake of screening in some hospitals has brought into question the adequacy of information given about the tests before women undergo them.² To make informed decisions about whether to undergo testing women need to know what conditions the test might detect as well as the implications of negative and positive results. Such information may also be of benefit in preparing women for possible adverse outcomes of screening.³

We assessed knowledge about different aspects of serum screening for Down's syndrome in women being offered such tests. This provides an index of how well the counselling aspect of . . . [Full text of this article]

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Antenatal screening policies for Down's syndrome

Nicholas J Wald, Wayne Huttly, Allan K Hackshaw, Michael Christiansen, Severin Olesen Larsen, Bent Nørgaard-Pedersen, David Howe, and Diana Wellesley
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