The minister has been informed of the issue and the Department of Health acknowledged the “distress” that the parents have experienced as a result of the events.

In a statement, Holles Street said it does not comment on individual cases. It confirmed that it has asked the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to review a recent case at the hospital.

6am

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Britain has told RTÉ News that it has not yet received a formal approach to undertake the review into the circumstances of a termination of pregnancy at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street.

The RCOG said in a statement: “Should an approach be forthcoming, this will be considered in the usual way.”

3pm

No formal approach to expert UK group over termination case (RTÉ)

External review over termination of pregnancy at NMH (RTE)

16 thoughts on “Shabby

  1. realPolithicks

    Its remarkable that the first instinct of these institutions is always to lie, and it never ends well.

  2. Orla

    Jesus. How would you get over this? It’s the stuff of nightmares for anyone with a wanted pregnancy.

        1. newsjustin

          On the plus side, the abortion system is working perfectly. Unwanted babies are being aborted. This was a flaw/weakness of the diagnostic procedure.

          1. Cian

            True.
            The only difference is that now the unwanted babies are being aborted in Ireland rather than going abroad. Same outcome, a lot less stress.

  3. Lilly

    How could you possibly order a test, then not wait for the results to arrive before making a decision? That poor couple. Is there no end to the incompetence.

    1. Orla

      Apparently it’s standard to go on the basis of the one test cause the chances of false positives are so low. It certainly gives you pause to think about the consequences of proceeding even though the risk are so low.

        1. Adam Reynolds

          The first test (PCR) currently checks for a limited number of conditions. Those conditions account for the vast majority of severe genetic abnormalities commonly considered useful to detect in the womb. The second test (karyotype) takes longer but can detect abnormalities that the first cannot. That is reason for doing both tests, even if you trust the first one. However, obviously there is a issue with the accuracy of the first test in rare cases, but it’s difficult to comment on what exactly went wrong here without knowing more details.

          1. Lilly

            Thanks Adam, but my question really is: why order the second test if you’re going to proceed with the abortion before you have the results of that test? That’s apparently what happened here.

            Why didn’t the hospital wait for the results of the second test before making any decision?

          2. Cian

            I would assume that the woman had a choice.
            She can request the second test.
            She can decide based on the original test to go ahead with the abortion without waiting for the results.
            According to the Irish Times the test has a false positive rate of 0.15%.

            This mean that for every 660 tests that come back positive 659 are really positive and one is a false positive. That is pretty reliable.

          3. Lilly

            If your assumption is correct Cian and the couple were fully informed before making a decision, I find it surprising that they complained about the hospital afterwards.

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