Last year, I received prenatal care at the Renaissance Women's Group having been referred there from another female doctor I saw with my last pregnancy.
The people there seemed nice, but the whole time of my pregnancy I had a general feeling of unease whenever I had a doctor's appointment.
In their general brochure they mention testing for Down's Syndrome but not for any other genetic disorders. They only briefly mention anything about chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis.
Due the shock of being pregnant and their patient handbook only mentioning testing for Down's Syndrome and really no information at all about chorionic villus sampling I only had a screening test for Down's Syndrome done.
The results came back fine, but when I had my 20 week ultrasound the baby had a "bright" or hyperechoic bowel and he was behind in growth. Due to this and my age being 31 they did an amniocentesis. Much to my horror, I found out 3 out of every 15 to 18 cells they sampled had an extra X chromosome which means he has Klinefelter's sydrome. This genetic disorder causes him to have more female characteristics then he would otherwise have.
To make things worse, I had to have this baby by C-section because I almost had a stroke from my blood pressure shooting up, pre-eclampisa, and his heart rate going down with fetal contractions.
And to add insult to injury Dr. Melanie Collins had North Austin Medical Center call Child Protective Services on me because I supposedly tested positive for amphetamines right before the C-section. This turned out to be a false positive. They also said I seemed to have mental health problems.
In the CPS report, a nurse at North Austin Medical Center named Molly told the CPS investigator that I hadn't received any prenatal care which was a complete and total lie.
These people couldn't simply admit they made a mistake and apologize for it, they simply tried to cover it up and make me look like the bad one. Perhaps they did this because Dr. Melanie Collins is on the Ethics Council of the hospital and my almost $100,000 hospital bill and having this baby born, who also seems to have dwarfism and some other problems, is too embarrasing.
They need to live up to what they've done and handle things professionally in the future.
I hope to God no one has to go through what I went through.
Make sure you get genetic testing for a wide range of possible genetic disorders done early in your pregnacy - see www.marchofdimes.com
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