So no one would abort because they are disappointed in the gender would they? Apparently Canada has some reason to think they would. One comment that doesn't make sense in the article is that doctors may need to know the gender in the event of multiples....??? Like how many boys or girls is too many?
By Pamela Fayerman,
Vancouver Sun
Expectant parents curious to know the sex of their fetus during ultrasound examinations are now being asked to pay $50 at some hospitals, but the charge could eventually expand across regions.
The "gender determination" fee has been newly implemented at Lions Gate and Richmond General hospitals following a pilot project at the latter.
But a Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman said hospitals throughout the Lower Mainland, including the biggest maternity hospital, BC Women's, may eventually adopt the fee because diagnostic imaging services - those that use technologies such as ultrasound, X-ray and MRI - are being consolidated. As part of that, services and policies may be standardized.
A draft document of the new policy obtained by The Vancouver Sun indicates that while fetal gender determination is not normally included in the ultrasound, "at the patient's request, it will be included in the radiologist's report ... [and] a charge of $50 will be levied for this additional service.
"The ultrasound staff will not disclose this information to the patient. Rather, [the pregnant patient] will obtain it from the referring physician after 20 weeks gestation [when abortion is no longer an available option]."
The time period after which such information is disclosed is important to prevent women from aborting if they are disappointed by the news of the gender of their fetus. In some countries, such as India and China, millions of female fetuses are aborted each year.
Anna Marie D'Angelo, spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said patients must sign a disclaimer before the ultrasound acknowledging that the ultrasound technician may make a mistake in gender determination.
"Right or wrong, no one gets their money back. But they will get a refund if the sonographer can't make a determination, based on the way the baby is positioned."
D'Angelo said an ultrasound is meant to be a quick procedure so the health professional conducting the examination will not spend a lot of time trying to find the gender.
"If they can't find it quickly, the refund will be given."
The fee is designed only as a cost recovery tool, not to generate profit or extra revenue for hospitals. She said there was no business plan developed for the policy change and the reason it's not expected to reap a lot of money is because the Richmond Hospital pilot project showed that of 198 women who had an ultrasound, only two chose to pay the fee over an undetermined time period.
All monies collected are to be reinvested in diagnostic imaging departments.
The $50 fee appears to be much lower than what women are charged at a handful of private clinics in the Lower Mainland. At Vancouver's Som Visao Urban Ultrasound Spa, for example, hundreds of women each month reportedly sign up for 3-D ultrasound packages costing $200 or $300, which include a live DVD, a CD of images, photos and gender assessment.
For $99, a shorter, five-minute ultrasound is offered to ascertain gender. The fee includes a photo to take home.
The Medical Services Plan does not cover ultrasounds that are done solely to determine fetal gender, and private clinics offer curious parents the gender-assessment ultrasounds only after medically necessary ones have already been done.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons is against fetal gender determination for non-medical purposes on the grounds that they may violate the principle of equity between males and females and may set a precedent for "eugenic decisions that are socially repugnant."
Doctors want to know fetal sex in the case of multiple pregnancies and when they may suspect genetic conditions affecting either sex. Women undergoing ultrasounds at Lions Gate and Richmond General hospitals will not be asked to pay if the gender information is pertinent to genetic and other medical conditions.
Adrian Dix, NDP health critic, said in an interview that he's against the new hospital fee because it's akin to "shaking someone down for money. Isn't it like holding information hostage for the sake of money?" he said.
Sun Health Issues Reporter
pfayerman@vancouversun.com
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2 comments:
"So no one would abort because they are disappointed in the gender would they? Apparently Canada has some reason to think they would. "
No one would? Well, we already know that the Chinese do. Or at least they formerly have, though that may now change given that the high ratio of boys to girls now makes boys less desirable, at least in China. But what about in Vancouver where about 15% of the population's mother tongue is Chinese?
It is curious that they have decided to withhold this information when Canada has no legal restrictions on abortion. I do think it has something to do with the Chinese population.
The gender determination fee itself has nothing to do with abortion but rather a way to recupe some costs.
Making a connection with your unborn child can strengthen the bond you share, make you feel closer, and enrich you and your baby's lives.
Portrait-quality, real-time images help you bond with your precious little one.
One of the best ways you can bond with your baby, says Thomas Ivester, MD, clinical instructor in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, is by having an ultrasound.
"Bonding during pregnancy gives a mom a better sense of responsibility in caring for herself, and by extension, the baby," he says. "When you can actually see the baby, that increases the feeling that the baby actually exists."
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51972
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