FOETAL SCANNING:A YOUNG mother has added her voice to the call for a public inquiry into the foetal scanning controversy after she told how she and her husband were informed that her baby was showing no signs of life, only for it to transpire two days later that the baby was alive.
Diana Arundel (24) was also highly critical of the fact that she had to wait two days at Cork University Maternity Hospital to have a second scan on a more sophisticated scanning machine, which showed her baby was alive.
Ms Arundel, from Macroom in mid-Cork, gave birth to her son Anthony on November 15th, 2007. Although the little boy was a healthy 4kg at birth and has grown well since, she remains traumatised by the experience at the then newly opened Cork hospital.
She said her husband rushed her to the hospital when she began bleeding at about 11.45pm on Friday, April 27th, 2007, when she was 13 weeks pregnant. She was seen by a doctor in the accident and emergency room in the early hours of Saturday.
“He did the scan and told me he could see no foetal heartbeat or no foetal movement,” Ms Arundel said. The doctor then suggested that she return two days later on the Monday for another scan to decide how they would proceed, because the foetus was 13 weeks old.
They were left under the clear impression that the second scan was simply to decide how the medical staff would remove the dead foetus. When they asked if they could have a second scan immediately to check if the foetus was alive, they were told it was not possible until Monday.
Ms Arundel was seen by an obstetrician at the hospital on Monday, who confirmed the foetus was alive and well, much to her relief and joy, but she remains upset over the way her pregnancy was handled by the hospital and the fact that she was left waiting for two days not knowing.
“I think all women who have had similar experiences should go public and there should definitely be a public inquiry so that it can’t happen again, so that other women don’t have to go through the same experience.”
A HSE spokeswoman said on behalf of the hospital that it could not comment on individual cases but added that there was a level of uncertainty in ultrasound scanning, especially in the early stages of pregnancy.