Geelong parents set to sue over alleged Down syndrome failure

A number of Geelong parents are set to launch “wrongful birth” claims, which can be worth millions, after medical practitioners allegedly failed to detect Down syndrome during pregnancy.

Lawyer Daniel Opare. Picture: Supplied

A number of Geelong parents are set to launch “wrongful birth” claims after medical practitioners allegedly failed to detect Down syndrome during pregnancy.

The claims, which include the cost of raising the child and health care expenses, could be worth millions of dollars each, top medical lawyer Daniel Opare said.

Shine Lawyers has two active claims under way from Wyndham families, with several more from Geelong expected to be launched.

The affected children are all aged under four, and the firm is also speaking with more local patients who may take action.

Mr Opare, who is practice leader of the Victorian medical law team at Shine, said: “I’ve seen (this issue) statewide but it absolutely recently seems to be more prevalent in the Geelong and Wyndham region.”

He said the issue involved a number of providers, butdue to clients’ wishes, the law firm would not yet specify which ones.

A lawyer says the number of ultrasounds monitoring for Down syndrome that are not being done appropriately is “remarkable”. Picture: iStock

Mr Opare said the firm had received a number of inquiries from parents who went for tests in the first and second trimester which they were told returned normal results, but their child was then born with Down syndrome.

“We’ve then gone away and investigated what’s happened, and that is getting a copy of their ultrasound films … and it’s been quite startling what we’ve seen and it’s that a lot of the time sonographers aren’t capturing the images correctly during ultrasounds and radiologists also aren’t reporting on the images correctly,” Mr Opare said.

“It’s just remarkable how many are not being done appropriately.”

He said claims were generally brought against the practitioners directly and paid by their insurance provider.

It’s estimated about 90 per cent of pregnancies in Australia are terminated when screenings detect Down syndrome.

People with the genetic disorder have cognitive impairment that can range from mild to severe, and may have lower immunity.

They also have higher chances of health problems, including heart defects.

Mr Opare said a wrongful birth claim meant parents alleged that had they known about the disability at a stage where they could have terminated the pregnancy, they would have elected to.

“A lot of parents do feel strongly that they would have, because raising a child with Down syndrome is a big deal for them and also for the child,” he said.

“A lot of them say that ‘we absolutely love our child but it’s not fair on the child to have to live with such severe disabilities’ and also it’s also financially hard for parents to provide the care and assistance and treatment that these children need.”

Asked why the issue could be more prevalent in the Geelong region, Mr Opare said he believed it could be related to training.

“The images are so poor that I think the only explanation could be that these sonographers and radiologists have not had proper training to know how to take and interpret the images,” he said.

He urged anyone who thought they may have been affected to approach Shine Lawyers.

“I just really wonder how many more people are out there who just have no idea that this should have been … an informed decision they were able to make,” he said.

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Originally published as Geelong parents set to sue over alleged Down syndrome failure