New pro-life blog written by Catholic doctor

Thank you Jill Stanek for encouraging Dr Gerard Nadal to begin an exceptional pro-life blog Coming Home.
Go over and enjoy his unique blend of indeputable science and unmoveable faith.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Dr Nadal.

Wonderful pro-life educational opportunity here in Connecticut

The seminar will introduce the leading "all natural", "all green", Creighton Model FertilityCare system, for the full spectrum of women’s health issues, for doctors and nurses,
and all of us, in the Tri-State area, PA and RI. It is

Saturday, Jan 17, 200911:30 am to 4:30 pm
(Optional Mass at 10:30)

Location: The Villa Maria Guadalupe Retreat Center, 159 Sky Meadow Dr., Stamford, CT, 06903

To Register or for questions contact: Dorothy Dugandzic, CFCP, 914 476-4858.

Fee: $45 Lunch will be offered.

With the explosion of medical data and information on the Internet in the 1990’s,
women have become more discriminating in their medical selections. "All natural"
“all green” is popular. The FertilityCare all-natural system aligns with these trends
and delivers the associated benefits that women seek. For example:

· The hormones used in treatments are bio-identical and have the same exact chemical formulas as the hormones made by the body. This enables full
· cooperation with all of a woman’s reproductive functions. Whereas hormones
· used in the pill are not identical to those produced by a woman’s body and
· cause problems.
· Biomarkers are used. This enables doctors to customize treatments to the
individual woman and to cure causes of problems. Whereas the pill treats
symptoms, and masks causes.
· Of the natural family planning systems supported by the Catholic Church, this is the most scientific capable of curing
1) complex conditions with multiple causes such as some cases of infertility and miscarriages
2) sophisticated techniques for early pre-cancer detection and
3) treatments for the widest spectrum of conditions – including: Menstrual Cramp, Premenstrual syndrome, Ovarian cysts, Irregularities, Abnormal bleeding, Polycystic ovarian disease, Hormonal abnormalities, Chronic discharges, Female Libido Wellness, Related Depression.

As a result, the Creighton Model FertilityCare system has a great track record with impressive published success rates such as

· 85% for the treatment of chronic infertility is 85% vs 35% for IVF. For additional information, see http://www.fertilitycare.org/napro/infertility.htm and
http://www.aafcp.org/infertility.html
· For pregnancy postponement it offers a very competitive 98.7-99.9% method effectiveness without the risks of the pill – associated with taking the pill’s artificial hormones.

Come and hear Dr. Scanlon and Dr. Watson
discuss this system in great detail. Also hear
Alexandra and Paul McLaughlin discuss the
role of the practitioner followed by a review of
the NaProTECHNOLOGY textbook by Dr. Scanlon.

Dr. Hilgers has done his job for the Church,
and it is now our job to spread the word. Each of us
is vital to God's plan.

A special mother's worst nightmare

Is this kind of "oversight" happening to her child.
If we kill 90% of our babies with Down syndrome in the womb, should we be surprised that medical workers will value such people less than others, and accidentally allow them to starve?
HT Life Site News

Adopting children with Down syndrome: pros and cons

Here's a wonderful article in the Washington Post about the family of Mommy Life's Barbara Curtis. She and her husband Tripp have adopted three children with Down syndrome. They surrendered their family plans to God and He has blessed them abundantly.
Here's Barbara's reaction when their biological child with T21 was born,
"In 1992, Jonny was born. In the delivery room, the mother recalled, the doctor put a hand on her shoulder, and she understood something was different about her son. "He has Down syndrome, right?" she asked.
"It's okay," she remembers saying and believing. She said she was filled with expectation and excitement about the changes he would bring to their family.
Tripp's voice still cracks when he recalls a line of poetry the couple chose for Jonny's birth announcement before knowing about the disability:
"God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."

Now, read this article decrying the 'interference' of the Prenatally Diagnosed Condtions Awareness Act in the doctor patient relationship and the claim that because of medical problems, our children with Down sydnrome are "unadoptable". This one sent a chill down my spine, and I hate to think that this may be closer to how the medical establishment thinks.

We advocates have LOTS of work to do!
HT Medical News today

They're starting to listen in the medical profession!

from the National Down Syndrome Congress
This past weekend in Los Angeles, an amazing panel of presenters which included self advocates Karen Gaffney, Lee Jones, and Meredith Martin, along with NDSC board vice president Carlene Mattson, wowed the audience in a plenary session titled, We're More Alike Than Different: Having Down Syndrome in 2008. They were simply terrific! It was an honor to be associated with this panel, and to watch the attendees learn from our speakers. It is our hope that we met our plenary's learning objectives for the genetic counselors, and that they will:
1. Examine their previous understanding of what it means to have DS and compare it to the reality of the lives of the presenters
2. Envision new possibilities for the future of individuals with DS
3. Incorporate personal stories of the presenters into counseling patients with a pre- or postnatal diagnosis

For many attendees, this was their first opportunity to hear directly from an individual with Down syndrome. There's no doubt we have changed the way they think! You can also continue to help two genetic counseling students who have taken a special interest in Down syndrome and how the news is shared. If you haven't done so already, please take a few minutes and complete these online surveys - and pass them along to others in your area.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4PH0aW70hR_2bgfvqxUJfwHw_3d_3d http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DTyB_2f5wJzjzuvNnEIzDfkQ_3d_3d">Click

Public Clinical Trials of new Down syndrome drug

There will be 200 locations to try this new drug, already approved by the FDA for use in treating Alzhiemer's Patients. Studies have shown that there is a link between Alzheimer's and Down syndrome, since an overwhelming majority of adults over 50 with DS also develop the disease. "That's the tantalizing question that has Belleville's Dr. John Boeren walking the line between optimism and overexuberance.
Boeren knows that several small trials suggest that drugs like Aricept and Exelon -- drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease -- appear to increase skill levels in children with Down syndrome in just a few months.
_Now, Boeren is taking part in a nationwide study that he hopes will confirm the preliminary findings. The study is open to all families of children with Down syndrome who are 6 to 17 years old and who can see, hear, communicate and walk. For information, call 234-2566, ext. 36, or go to www.downsyndromestudy.comon the Internet.
"I'm excited," Boeren said. "There's no promise -- and we certainly don't want to oversell this -- but here's a possibility that maybe for the first time we may be able to help these children a little bit."
Read about the trials here.

New "Safe" Test for Down syndrome

Isn't that wonderful?! Now the 10% of T21 babies who have mangaged to go undetected before birth can be aborted through a new search and destroy method. The manufacturer's publicist even had the nerve to leave a comment on this blog, for free advertising.
You know I deleted it.
I have only one question for them:
Safe for whom?
Watch out, soon they will be able to detect other medical problems in maternal blood, and more babies will be targeted. This could devastate the autistic community if a genetic marker is discovered. The Prenatally Diagnosed Condtions Awareness Act could not have come at a better time.
Read the entire story at US News and World Report.

Help Genetic Counselors help Down syndrome parents

From the National Down syndrome society
Just as we all work to provide medical professionals with information that will enhance their skills in delivering a diagnosis of Down syndrome, there are others within the medical community doing the same thing.
Currently, there is a survey online, written for a Master's thesis project, which hopes to construct practice guidelines for providing information to new and expectant parents receiving a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
The study's author says, "This study combines the complementary perspectives of parents and Genetic Counselors (professionals trained in clinical genetics and counseling skills) for the construction of guidelines to ensure that the first information parents receive about their child's diagnosis is balanced, accurate, and consistent. Your involvement is extremely valuable to healthcare professionals involved in distributing information and resources and those involved in the care of individuals with Down syndrome and their families." Please go online to take this study, and encourage your members to do so, too. This is a terrific place for your voice to be heard!
Click here to participate.

Please sign this petition to the ACOG

The National Down Syndrome Society wants to send this petition with 5,000 signatures to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists asking that they educate their members in the true nature of life with Down syndrome. The reality we know as parents is too often a far cry from the negative future a woman hears from her OB when her unborn child is diagnosed with Down syndrome, as Dr. Skotko's research shows here.

How did you receive the news that your child had Down syndrome?

This is the most frequently asked question on the Cafe Mom Down syndrome groups. Here's a fascinating study by Dr. Brian Skotko of Children's Hospital in Boston with responses from hundreds of women about this life altering event.
I have answered the question of how I found out about Christina having Down syndrome in "A Special Mother is Born"

Cause for Joy!!! Kennedy Brownback bill passes out of Committee in Senate

The wonderful Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Act, known as the Kennedy-Brownback bill passed out of Senate HELP Committee today!
It will ensure that doctors provide parents with complete information about their unborn or newborn with disabilities, including referrals to advocacy groups. There is $25 million in funding to help provide information about the promising therapies, and fulfilling lives lived by individuals with Down syndrome and other genetic anomalies. So many of my friends expecting a child with Down syndrome were pressured by their doctors to abort, and weren't given any information about Down syndrome.
Senator Sam Brownback said he hopes it will reduce the percentage of abortions in such cases -- with some studies showing as many as 90 percent of parents with an unborn baby diagnosed as having Down syndrome having an abortion.“It is difficult, sometimes overwhelming, for expecting parents to receive news that their unborn child may be born with a disability,” Brownback said.“This legislation will help parents receiving such news by supplying them with current and reliable information about the many options available for caring for children with disabilities," he added.In a rare show of bipartisan support, Brownback is working with pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts on the bill.The bill now moves to full Senate consideration and Brownback said he hopes the body will move on it quickly. “I am hopeful this bill soon moves to consideration by the full Senate. The quicker my colleagues and I move to pass this bill, the more quickly we can help families across the nation," he said.The bill also calls for the creation of a national registry of families willing to adopt children with pre- or post-natally diagnosed conditions.
HT Life News
When the unlikely pair first introduced the bill in 2005, it was killed in committee, so the fact that it made it out of committee intact is big news. .Senator Brownback's office gave it a 50% chance of approval once it reached the Senate floor.
It's an election year, so, let's get moving on this immediately.
I want you all to contact your senators and write letters to the editor of your local and national papers in support of this important bill S1810.
ACTION: Contact your senator at 202-224-3121 and urge support for the bill, write letters to the editor, or go to http://www.senate.gov/ for more specific contact information.

The ACOG has heard us: some progress made on pre-natal screening

Executive Director
National Down Syndrome Congress
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DAVID TOLLESON
(January 15, 2008)
" In its December 2007 Practice Bulletin 88, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) expands on its position regarding invasive prenatal diagnostic testing for Down syndrome, which was originally outlined in its January 2007 Practice Bulletin 77. The main recommendation is "invasive diagnostic testing should be available to all women"Maternal age of 35 years alone should no longer be used as a threshold to determine who is offered screening versus who is offered invasive testing." Though the guideline states "prenatal diagnosis is not solely performed for assistance in the decision of pregnancy termination," the implication is that a baby with Down syndrome is a bad outcome that should be avoided.

Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence presented to support the recommendation which is based primarily on 'consensus and expert opinion', the weakest level of support. Of equal concern is that the authors of ACOG Practice Bulletins 88 and 77 are neither named nor are any potential financial conflicts of interest disclosed. This omission calls into question the process by which 'expert opinion' is transformed into public health policy.

Practice Bulletin 88 does suggest referral to the NDSC, NDSS or local organizations, when a diagnosis of Down syndrome is made. Although this is a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done to convince the medical community of the worth of people with Down syndrome.

The National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) believes that individuals with Down syndrome have innate worth and should be treated with dignity and respect. The NDSC calls upon ACOG to require that all patients be given, without prejudice, information that accurately reflects the realities of a life with Down syndrome. Furthermore, ACOG and other health care organizations should ensure that doctors and other health care professionals are adequately trained to provide accurate, non-directive information.

Our goal is not to limit a woman's access to prenatal screening, nor to limit her reproductive choices. Rather, it is to ensure the screening and diagnostic process is done in the context of an informed personal conversation with the woman's doctor, during which current, balanced information is given about the reality of Down syndrome today. In this way, we hope decisions can be made based on knowledge and not fear.
The new statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is better, in that it actually recommends that when a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome is made,that patients are given information about National Down Syndrome Congress and the National Down Syndrome Society. This is, I firmly believe the result of the hard work of thousands of individuals with Down syndrome, and the families who love them. Even the New York Times took note of our efforts, as they report here.
The book "Gifts", the first ever Carnival of Down syndrome, the movie, "Mr. Blue Sky" and articles like my "A Special Mother is Born" have begun to make a difference in how Obstetricians will talk to their patients carrying a child with Down syndrome. I hope my upcoming book on Catholic mothers of special needs children will add to the discussion of how these people have blessed the world with their presence.
The Prenatally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Act, S803 would codify into law the rights of such parents to receive a fair discussion of exactly what life with Down syndrome is like. It's the very least you would expect in a free society.

Brownback--Kennedy Bill to give expectant parents the truth about their babies

I'm supporting this bill. Read here how it would help expectant parents find out what having a child Down syndrome is really like. The reason I started Cause of Our Joy is to educate parents who do a search on Down syndrome on what is really is like to raise a child with Down syndrome.
If there were more ways to reach out to the public, as well as funding to do so, I would be the first in line to help. I tried for four years to get doctors, nurses and social workers to give out my phone number to expectant parents, with no success.
The biggest enemy of the truth in this instance is fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of suffering, both of the child, and the parents. Fear of rejection. Fear sickness. Fear of embarrassment.
That's why Monica Rafie mentioned in this article and I are writing our book on Catholic mothers of special needs and medically fragile children. To allay the fears of these parents, and to give them hope in their baby's future. If you have a story to share about your special needs child, just email me leticia77@optonline.net

Why I am leaving my Obstetrician

Dear Dr. X,

I am hereby authorizing the transfer of all my medical records to:

Dr Robert Scanlon
OB-GYN Dept.
This is done on principle, as Huntington is farther from my home than your office.
I am a Catholic and as such do not practice contraception or abortion. Dr Scanlon’s practice is in accord with my religious beliefs, as he does not prescribe contraception nor refer for abortion. As the mother of a special needs child (see enclosed article) I am more keenly aware of the discrimination against the disabled in most OB practices, where over 90% of unborn babies with Down Syndrome are aborted. My health and my money must go to a doctor who takes the Hypocratic Oath seriously.
Sincerely, This is a letter I have just mailed out to change my OB to a completely pro-life doctor. If you can use it, feel free to copy it. We need to let the medical community know it matters if they keep the now defunct Hypocratic Oath which doctors used to take in medical school.

THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH
I swear by Apollo the physician, by Æsculapius, Hygeia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgement, the following Oath.
"To consider dear to me as my parents him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and if necessary to share my goods with him; to look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art if they so desire without fee or written promise; to impart to my sons and the sons of the master who taught me and the disciples who have enrolled themselves and have agreed to the rules of the profession, but to these alone the precepts and the instruction. I will prescribe regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death. Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art. I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art. In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves. All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal. If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot."

Not bad for a pagan culture! Would that Catholic doctors held to such high standards. If your Obstetrician doesn't, look up a Natural Family Planning-only medical practice here at One More Soul.