What I'm going to do instead of suing for $3 million.

Have you seen this story yet:  Jury awards nearly $3 million to Portland-area couple in 'wrongful birth' lawsuit against Legacy Health.  I'm sure most of you have.


From OregonLive.com:

Jury awards nearly $3 million to Portland-area couple in 'wrongful birth' lawsuit against Legacy Health

Published: Friday, March 09, 2012, 1:23 PM Updated: Friday, March 09, 2012, 9:00 PM

By Aimee Green, The OregonianThe Oregonian

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianMultnomah County Circuit Court Judge Karin Immergut banned courtroom photos of Ariel and Deborah Levy for safety reasons. The Levys' attorney, David K. Miller, said the couple has received death threats.

A jury this afternoon awarded nearly $3 million to a Portland-area couple whose daughter was born with Down syndrome even though a prenatal test found she didn't have the chromosomal abnormality.

The jury voted 12-0, taking less than six hours before reaching a verdict in the case of Ariel and Deborah Levy vs. Legacy Health System. The decision capped a 10-day highly emotional trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Previous: "Portland-area couple sues Legacy Health for $3 million for 'wrongful birth' after child born with Down syndrome"
The money will cover the estimated extra lifetime costs of caring for a child with Down syndrome.

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It's hard for me to even address this subject, because I honestly feel like it is one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever heard about.  I cannot even believe that a group of people would rule in favor of something like this.

Do you know who needs to be sued? 

I called a doctor's office a few weeks ago to see if I could drop of some materials for them to give to pregnant mothers who received a diagnosis of Down syndrome.  They said I could bring them by, but they wouldn't put any brochures in the waiting room, because it would scare the pregnant mothers.  Oh well, of course, we would hate to scare pregnant mothers with accurate, up-to-date information.  We'd rather give them no information, and then offer an abortion.  That makes so much more sense.  By the way, I don't care if they don't want to put things in the waiting room, but the comment that was made is what bothered me.   

Or maybe we should sue every OB doctor and every genetic counselor who didn't give accurate, up-to-date information to pregnant mothers, and left them alone with the words, "I'm sorry, you're baby has Down syndrome.  You have a week to decide what you're going to do about it", and then walked out of the room.

Maybe we should sue the companies that are developing early genetic testing, specifically targeted at people with Down syndrome, because there is no accountability with them.  If it's to allow for the mother to be informed, then inform her.  Put information in her hand.  Give her the phone number of someone who has a child with Down syndrome.  Don't just throw a diagnosis in her face, and call that informed.  That is not informed.

At this point in time, abortion is legal, and women will choose it.  But it doesn't have to end there.  There are things we can do.  I mentioned this before, but I've been working with our local group for a while now to provide information to local OB/GYN offices in our area.  Through my local group, I purchased enough materials to provide for every OB office, as well as the genetic counselor at our local hospital.  My goal in this endeavor has been to establish a relationship with these offices.  I want to feel like they can contact us.  I want them to have good information to hand to mothers. 


Here's a box full of the booklet "Understanding a Down syndrome Diagnosis":

I put a label on the front of each one that has the name, website, and email of our local support group.

Pictured here are the booklet "Delivering a Down syndrome Diagnosis" (for each doctor) with a letter explaining the materials.  The brochure at the bottom, Your Baby and Down syndrome can be downloaded on the NDSC's New and Expectant Parents page. 

If your local group would be interested in something like this, you can purchase booklets from Canister through a Nonprofit pre-order.  If you contact me, I could also email you some medical outreach information that Stephanie Meredith sent me.  It has instructions on what to say to the offices when you contact them, a letter to give to each doctor that explains the materials, as well as some other forms for logging the offices you have contacted.

If that is not an option for you, you could let the OB offices and genetic counselor in your area know that they can order a FREE booklet every 2 months through Canister.  You could also tell them that expectant parents or medical professionals can download a FREE pregnancy book from Down syndrome Pregnancy.  If you're going this route, I would recommend purchasing one of these books so that you can show it to them.  Type up a letter explaining what you are doing, how they can access these free materials, and contact information for you or your local group in case they have questions.  Go to the office/offices and ask for the Office Manager.  I worked in an OB office all through high school and college, and the Office Manager is the way to go. 

Genetic testing is here, and it's not going anywhere.  In fact, as the money keeps rolling in, it will only result in more companies producing these tests.  So let's get the word out that there needs to be accountability.