Warning over misdiagnosed baby scans by unqualified testers
The Society of Radiographers (SoR) has warned that some private baby scan clinics, often 'pop ups' in shopping centres, are putting pregnant women at risk through untrained sonographers performing ultrasounds.
Such ultrasounds are often marketed as providing reassurance, souvenir or sexing scans ahead of the routine 20-week NHS check offered to all pregnant women.
Untrained practitioners are then advising women either that their baby is fine when there are clear medical abnormalities, or that there are problems when in fact their baby is healthy.
One woman mentioned in a BBC report was told that there was no heartbeat and that the baby was severely malformed, when a subsequent hospital scan showed a healthy 9-week foetus.
The SoR is calling for the description of someone as a sonographer to be protected so it can only be used by those suitably qualified to perform ultrasounds, precisely to protect women from the potential trauma of incorrect advice.
Fieldfisher recently achieved settlement for parents against a private scanning clinic which failed to detect the rare chromosomal disorder Emanuel Syndrome in pre-natal scans.
Their son was subsequently born with the rare and severe genetic condition that was only diagnosed after birth. Children with the condition often face significant challenges including intellectual disability, delayed growth, feeding difficulties, and physical abnormalities such as a small jaw and cleft palate.
The boy is now nearly four years old but developmentally functions at the level of a six-month-old. He is non-verbal, non-mobile, entirely tube-fed, and requires constant care.
Arti Shah achieved settlement of five times more than was originally offered by the private clinic, without admission of liability. The funds will help support the child with his significant care needs.
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