The Medical and Surgical Practice of NaProTECHNOLOGY, 813-824, 2004

Chapter 60: Lethal Congenital Anomalies: Prenatal Diagnosis and the Management of Pregnancy

Thomas W Hilgers

Author affiliations
  • Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, Omaha, Nebraska. ROR
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Abstract

Management of pregnancies complicated by lethal fetal anomalies is addressed within an ethical framework that provides perinatal palliative care, parental support, and medical management without recourse to induced abortion. The chapter outlines clinical protocols for continuing care that respect fetal life while attending to maternal physical and psychological wellbeing through delivery and bereavement.

Topics

prenatal diagnosis of lethal birth defects, baby diagnosed with fatal abnormality, continuing pregnancy after terrible diagnosis, trisomy 18 support and palliative care, potter's syndrome pregnancy management, spina bifida detected on ultrasound, amniocentesis risks and fetal loss rate, chorionic villus sampling miscarriage risk, triple test false positive rate, down syndrome screening accuracy problems, perinatal hospice program, supporting families through lethal anomaly, moral alternative to selective abortion, carrying baby to term with fatal condition, cumulus oophorus ultrasound appearance, preconception genetic screening, non-directive counseling reproductive genetics, prenatal testing without abortion option, spiritual and psychological growth through loss, parenting dying baby before and after birth, physician support for continuing pregnancy, ethics of prenatal diagnosis, invasive testing embryo risk, early ultrasound gestational sac discrepancy, miscarriage prediction from sac measurement

Cite this article

Hilgers, T. W. (2004). Chapter 60: Lethal Congenital Anomalies: Prenatal Diagnosis and the Management of Pregnancy. *The Medical and Surgical Practice of NaProTECHNOLOGY*, 813-824.

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