Determining the gender of an unborn baby during routine ultrasounds is not standard practice in Nova Scotia hospitals, because resources are too tight and medically speaking it’s not important.
By Erin Delorey <erin.delorey@dal.ca>
Posted: Feb. 21, 2008
Heather MacDonald is 25 weeks pregnant with her first child. She says some people are trying to convince her not to find out the sex of the baby, but she’s not budging. Her husband was skeptical at first, but sided with his wife after some discussion.
Most new moms and dads in Nova Scotia don’t know if junior is going to be a boy or girl.
Dr. Kathy O’Brien, head of ultrasound in diagnostic imaging at the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax, says her department doesn’t offer gender details to patients because it consumes too much time and resources.
“I know it’s something a lot of parents would desire to have, but unfortunately with the resources that we have now, we don’t have the luxury or the time to offer that service,” she says.
The 2006 vital statistics report for Nova Scotia says there were 8,426 babies born in the province.
The department has added more patients over the last decade, but operates with the same number of human and medical resources.
“At one point, maybe 10 years ago, we did provide this service.”
She says the department sees about 60 patients a day and not just for pregnancy ultrasounds.
The two to three minutes consumed, per patient, assessing gender can add up to 180 minutes a day, time better spent on seeing more patients.
“We didn’t feel it was justified to make those patients wait longer. It was a matter of using our resources more wisely.”
She adds that it wasn’t a popular decision among patients.
In a screening ultrasound, declaring the sex can be difficult depending on the position of the fetus. The increasing number of obese women also makes it harder to see the fetus clearly.
“Sonographers do take an image of the area if they can to make sure the anatomy is normal.”
A sonographer is an ultrasound technician, not a physician, so a radiologist has to go into a screening to reveal gender information to patients.
Farrell Nette is 33 weeks along with her four-pound eight-ounce baby. Photo: Erin Delorey
MacDonald has had two ultrasounds at her local hospital in Antigonish.
“They said everything was normal and not to worry. The baby was growing good.”
She didn’t ask to know her baby’s sex because she heard the doctor wouldn’t tell her, although she has no idea why.
“I’m finding out in March, in Halifax, at the UC Baby, it’s the only place in the Maritimes I think that tells you,” MacDonald says.
UC Baby is a company that offers ultrasound imaging in 15 Canadian cities.
“It’s not a medical clinic. They do 3D pictures of the baby and they tell you the sex of it. I have to pay $175, but I really want to know.”
MacDonald says even before she was pregnant she told her husband Gordie she wanted to find out if the baby was a boy or girl.
“My sister found out and it was easier for her to buy things. We have a small place so I thought it would be easier,” she says. “And I hate surprises.”
Her sister lives in the United States so she found out the sex of her baby at the hospital.
MacDonald will find out her baby’s sex on March 7.
Until then she’ll have to keep guessing.
“Some days I want a boy, some days I want a girl, as long as it’s healthy I don’t really care, I just want to know.”
Jocelyn Vine is the vice president of patient care at the IWK Children's Hospital in Halifax. Photo: Erin Delorey
MacDonald guessed right. Her hospital doesn’t offer gender assessment.
David Quann, director of diagnostic imaging in Antigonish, says gender is only assessed when it’s necessary.
“From my experience as a sonographer working at a hospital where the gender was disclosed to the parents, repeat exams were performed solely because the gender was not confirmed on a previous exam,” he says. “It results from a family physician relenting to pressure by the parents, but nevertheless it’s a waste of resources.”
He says that in rare cases the declared gender is wrong, hurting patient confidence and possibly opening the hospital to a lawsuit.
Doctors in the province will screen for gender in circumstances including genetic anomalies or with multiple births.
Jocelyn Vine, vice-president of patient care at the IWK, says the hospital offers gender determination to women who fall into high-risk categories because they receive more in-depth scanning.
“If gender determination was a requirement for care then we would have a solid rational for providing that information and that would help us to get the funding that would be required to do that,” she says.
However, the vast majority of women fall into the lower-risk category.
She understands people often want to know the sex of their baby but it’s a resource, financing and staffing issue for her hospital.
“They generally want to know their baby is developing appropriately, that all the critical organ systems are there, all the body parts are in the right places … They want to know from us, ‘Am I typical, if not what can you tell me about why I’m not, what can I do to improve the growth of the fetus.’”
Update
Feb. 22: Added two photos - Farrell Nette and Jocelyn Vine
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