Post by mesmom on Jun 21, 2007 13:59:24 GMT -5
I have not posted here in a long time. But I know quite a few of you, and wanted to share this with you as well. I have sent this off to many, and most are shocked at the bluntness of this publication by the ACOG. Here is what I have sent along. It is shocking.
I am SO embarrassed. This whole two years and some odd months, since MaryEllen was born, I have thought that people who wanted the termination rate of babies with Down syndrome to grow, wanted it because they just were uncomfortable with the idea that someone who is born with Down syndrome is bad. While that seems to be true to some level, after all they will not make much money in the future, it really is not personal. I am just so relieved to know that. Here I thought all along, people just did not like MaryEllen. Turns out, there are whole studies out there about how the Americans are beating the British in these cost effective approaches, (aka getting rid of the problem) to handling Down syndrome the best. I am so embarrassed (said sarcastically) that I took this so personally when it really was just about money. Whew, I feel so much better. Now I will have to change my thought process, cuz the Americans are WINNING!!! Go our Team!!! (No offense to my British friends of course) I am just so excited that we are saving so much more money than the British I could just .....well, you can fill that in. From now on, I will be standing on the side lines, cheering our team on. No more feeling bad about this. It is....a good thing...(she said while sticking a fork down her throat.) Read on to join me in my excitement about how much we are saving a year in America. Oh, and now I just feel so bad, that I have not helped them to "be the best that we can be..." Sorry, but I could not read this, and then keep it to myself, that would after all... be selfish of me... Di
Check out this link, it is eye opening:
www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/full/95/4/577
Best of all, in case you did not notice who published this study, none other than our very own:
© 2000 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
I had to pick out a few of my favorite parts of this study....
"The following cost assumptions were made using American standards19: ultrasound examination $200, maternal serum screening testing $70, genetic counseling session $100, CVS or amniocentesis package $1200 (including the ultrasound guidance before and during the procedure, the invasive procedure, and the laboratory fee for karyotype determination), first-trimester abortion $1000, second-trimester abortion $2000, and approximate lifetime cost of each live-born infant with Down syndrome $500,000. This lifetime cost of live-born infants with Down syndrome is an incremental cost (costs above and beyond those generally occurring for the average newborn). This cost includes direct (medical, developmental, and special education) as well as indirect costs (lost productivity including wages due to early death or disability), and it assumes replacement with a subsequent normal child for both strategies."
I will add, and like the American Express commercial, living with a child with Down syndrome.....Priceless, some things money can't buy...
Or my other favorite line...
"The benefit was generated from the prevented Down syndrome births and the cost was generated from the ultrasounds, serum screens, genetic counseling, invasive procedures, and therapeutic abortions.
It is these warm and fuzzy explanations like this that just make me feel so happy inside. I am just so pleased that there are people in the world that see my daughter as a benefit. After all, if they did not have ds babies in utero to kill, they would not have money to make. So, in effect, she is benefiting them. Right?
It was so sweet of the ACOG to have this report published. I think I will be making a copy and when she is old enough to need "care" from them, I will run a test, by having my ob read it, and see her reaction to it. That should help me to weed out the one we don't want to go to when she is an adult. YUCK!!!
If this does not help people to see how intentional it is that the ACOG sends their message, then there is nothing more to say... my personal opinion, this is dispicable, and every person needs to know how intentional it is. Especially new moms, so they can know what a pawn they are. I just could not keep this to myslef. God bless us all. Di
I am SO embarrassed. This whole two years and some odd months, since MaryEllen was born, I have thought that people who wanted the termination rate of babies with Down syndrome to grow, wanted it because they just were uncomfortable with the idea that someone who is born with Down syndrome is bad. While that seems to be true to some level, after all they will not make much money in the future, it really is not personal. I am just so relieved to know that. Here I thought all along, people just did not like MaryEllen. Turns out, there are whole studies out there about how the Americans are beating the British in these cost effective approaches, (aka getting rid of the problem) to handling Down syndrome the best. I am so embarrassed (said sarcastically) that I took this so personally when it really was just about money. Whew, I feel so much better. Now I will have to change my thought process, cuz the Americans are WINNING!!! Go our Team!!! (No offense to my British friends of course) I am just so excited that we are saving so much more money than the British I could just .....well, you can fill that in. From now on, I will be standing on the side lines, cheering our team on. No more feeling bad about this. It is....a good thing...(she said while sticking a fork down her throat.) Read on to join me in my excitement about how much we are saving a year in America. Oh, and now I just feel so bad, that I have not helped them to "be the best that we can be..." Sorry, but I could not read this, and then keep it to myself, that would after all... be selfish of me... Di
Check out this link, it is eye opening:
www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/full/95/4/577
Best of all, in case you did not notice who published this study, none other than our very own:
© 2000 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
I had to pick out a few of my favorite parts of this study....
"The following cost assumptions were made using American standards19: ultrasound examination $200, maternal serum screening testing $70, genetic counseling session $100, CVS or amniocentesis package $1200 (including the ultrasound guidance before and during the procedure, the invasive procedure, and the laboratory fee for karyotype determination), first-trimester abortion $1000, second-trimester abortion $2000, and approximate lifetime cost of each live-born infant with Down syndrome $500,000. This lifetime cost of live-born infants with Down syndrome is an incremental cost (costs above and beyond those generally occurring for the average newborn). This cost includes direct (medical, developmental, and special education) as well as indirect costs (lost productivity including wages due to early death or disability), and it assumes replacement with a subsequent normal child for both strategies."
I will add, and like the American Express commercial, living with a child with Down syndrome.....Priceless, some things money can't buy...
Or my other favorite line...
"The benefit was generated from the prevented Down syndrome births and the cost was generated from the ultrasounds, serum screens, genetic counseling, invasive procedures, and therapeutic abortions.
It is these warm and fuzzy explanations like this that just make me feel so happy inside. I am just so pleased that there are people in the world that see my daughter as a benefit. After all, if they did not have ds babies in utero to kill, they would not have money to make. So, in effect, she is benefiting them. Right?
It was so sweet of the ACOG to have this report published. I think I will be making a copy and when she is old enough to need "care" from them, I will run a test, by having my ob read it, and see her reaction to it. That should help me to weed out the one we don't want to go to when she is an adult. YUCK!!!
If this does not help people to see how intentional it is that the ACOG sends their message, then there is nothing more to say... my personal opinion, this is dispicable, and every person needs to know how intentional it is. Especially new moms, so they can know what a pawn they are. I just could not keep this to myslef. God bless us all. Di