The new ethical controversy?

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by glatt

Well, there is amniocentesis, but it's a little risky, and it's never done routinely because of that risk. Around 1% of fetuses are killed by the procedure.

For some reason I thought an amnio couldn't be used for Down's testing, but a quick Google search shows I'm clearly wrong. What I don't get is how the test could be wrong, as in lookout's anecdote. Either the extra chromosome is there or it isn't... LabRat? Any clues?

[jinx]

Any tests accuracy is affected by how much of a stoner the lab tech is (my mom worked at a physician services lab for a while, told me some stories...) but in also in this case maybe it's mosaic down's?

Mosaicism

Trisomy 21 is caused prior to conception, and all cells in the body are affected. However, when some of the cells in the body are normal and other cells have trisomy 21, it is called Mosaic Down syndrome (46,XX/47,XX,+21).[10] This can occur in one of two ways: A nondisjunction event during an early cell division in a normal embryo leads to a fraction of the cells with trisomy 21; or a Down syndrome embryo undergoes nondisjunction and some of the cells in the embryo revert to the normal chromosomal arrangement. There is considerable variability in the fraction of trisomy 21, both as a whole and among tissues. This is the cause of 1–2% of the observed Down syndromes.[9]

[lookout123]

sorry, i can't offer any clarification. i'm sure they were told more details but the story goes that they were cautioned about the complications of raising a child with Down's but they chose to go forward anyway. She is a perfectly normal kid. annoying if you ask me, but i guess that makes her normal.:p