A mother of a 4-year-old son with special needs is suing a
British hospital alleging they failed to test for the condition — otherwise she
would've had an abortion.
Edyta Mordel, 33, of Reading, wants almost $250,000 in
compensation for the cost of raising her son, Aleksander, who was diagnosed
with Down syndrome in a case termed "wrongful birth," according to
The Mirror.
“Miss Mordel would have been offered an abortion and she and
her partner, Aleksander’s father Lukasz Cieciura, agreed they would have
terminated the pregnancy,” Mordel's lawyer, Clodagh Bradley QC, told the High
Court in London, the outlet reported.
Mordel, who is originally from Poland, said she was given
the all-clear at 12 weeks into the pregnancy, believing the test had been
carried out.
“I was reassured so many times everything was alright, that
the pregnancy was fine,” Mordel said, according to the Daily Mail.
But lawyers for the NHS showed that the sonographer recorded
"Down's screening declined" in her medical notes.
And when she gave birth via C-section at the Royal Berkshire
Hospital in January 2015, her medical notes recorded Mordel was "very
upset and angry" when Aleksander was diagnosed with Down syndrome.
Lawyer Michael de Navarro QC, for the NHS hospital trust,
explained that it was relatively common for expectant mothers to decline
screenings when they learned the test carried a 2 percent miscarriage risk.
While Mordel insisted she always wanted the screening, NHS
guidelines classify asking about the screening at a later appointment, once
declined, as "harassment."
The Daily Mail reports that parents have been issued
millions in other "wrongful birth" cases, while Mordel's case is
still ongoing.
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