Reference no: EM133258104
The widespread availability of various forms of prenatal testing provides expectant families and those who care for and support them with information that may pose difficult questions and decisions. Suppose that you are a social worker at a large university hospital prenatal diagnostics program. What would you do in each of the following situations?
1. Thirty-nine-year-old Dorothy and her husband Chuck have just been told that their much-wanted baby has Down syndrome. The family is adamant that they want the baby and have asked you to help them prepare. What does the family need to know about Down syndrome? How will you link them to community-based services like Birth-to-Three? What other information about their child would be important for them to have before her birth?
2. Erica and her husband John just found out that their baby will be born with anencephaly and, based on the scan, it is very severe. There is a strong likelihood that the baby will be stillborn, perhaps weeks prior to term, but even if the baby is born alive, survival for more than a few hours is unlikely. Because the baby appears to be otherwise healthy, with what seem to be normal internal organs, the family wants to carry the baby to term and, after he passes naturally, donate whatever organs they can. They have heard about other families doing this and believe that it would be a wonderful, heroic legacy for their son. What would you tell them? What information do they need? What sorts of plans must be in place? What support will they need?
3. Katrina is a 20-year-old college student who is unexpectedly pregnant. Prenatal testing reveals that the baby has trisomy 13, a particularly devastating disorder that affects nearly every organ system. Katrina's family is extremely conservative and deeply religious. She knows they would be extremely distressed to learn that she is sexually active and even more so to learn that she is pregnant outside of marriage. She states that she has always been opposed to abortion but is now wanting to know more about it. What would you tell her about trisomy 13? How would you address abortion? What about the situation with her family?