• Topic
• >> Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality >> Deciding whether to have a post-mortem >> Deciding whether to have a post-mortem

Deciding whether to have a post mortem

• Pregnancy & children >> Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality >> Deciding whether to have a post-mortem >> Deciding whether to have a post-mortem

Deciding whether to have a post mortem

• Clip
• Pregnancy & children >> Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality >> 8+ years since pregnancy ended >> Interview 09 >> Describes how she hadn't wanted to leave the hospital because she knew she wouldn't see her baby again but that her partner eventually insisted.

Her 2nd pregnancy: 20-week scan found baby had anomalies. Preliminary diagnosis after specialist cardiac scan was that baby had serious heart defects. Pregnancy ended by induction at 24 weeks. Post mortem revealed baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome and an unbalanced chromosomal translocation (Robertsonian translocation of 13 and 14). Genetic counselling found that mother and her mother are carriers of a chromosomal disorder or translocation of the chromosomes. Since termination she has had another baby.

• Pregnancy & children >> Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality >> 3-4 years since pregnancy ended >> Interview 07 >> Results from her baby's post mortem showed the baby wouldn't have survived for long and so she felt she had been right to end the pregnancy.

Her 3rd pregnancy: 20-week scan detected anomalies - baby's kidneys and stomach couldn't be seen. Specialist scan revealed baby had multiple abnormalities; parents agreed to amniocentesis which confirmed baby's problems were not inherited. Pregnancy ended at 22 weeks by induction. She has since had another baby.

• Pregnancy & children >> Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality >> 5-7 years since pregnancy ended >> Interview 08 >> Says that her partner needed as much time off work as she did to recover from the loss of the baby.

Her 2nd pregnancy: felt unwell throughout pregnancy, AFP test at 16 weeks indicated that baby might have Down's syndrome, later confirmed by amniocentesis. Pregnancy was ended by induction at 21 weeks. She felt insufficiently prepared or informed about baby's post mortem.