Questions to ask for testings
Antenatal, labour, birth, postnatal, newborn, postpartum… everything.
1. What risks are involved for you and/or you baby if you do this test?
2. What information will be gained from this test?
3. Could the information gained change the course of action?
So, let’s take a screening test for an untreatable disease, offered during the antenatal period. If the test involved some risk to you (infection and distress) and to your baby (risk of damage, or risk of miscarriage), and the information had a high false-positive rater so the information potentially gained isn’t high value, and you wouldn’t choose to terminate the pregnancy regardless of the outcome, then you’d be able to answer the three questions…
