I carry you in my heart : facing an incurable prenatal diagnosis

Prenatal diagnosis has given doctors the ability to predict problems before a child is even born. But what happens when the information gleaned from these tests is that the child is fatally sick? Doctors call these "futile" pregnancies. The increasing sophistication and prevalence of prenatal diagnostic tests means that prospective parents and their doctors are grappling with ethical questions unheard of just half a century ago. Legislators try to demarcate what choices are "good" and "bad". However, there is no good choice when it comes to a fatally ill infant. While archival research is used to frame modem perspectives, this thesis aims to explore the different choices women make and the difficulties they must grapple with in this day and age.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Sconyers, Emma (Emma G.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Corby Kummer.

• Graduate Program in Science Writing.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92632

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/92632