The NHS has awarded compensation to a mother because her son was born with Down’s syndrome.
Edyta Mordel from Reading told the High Court she would have aborted the child if she had known he had the condition.
Mr Justice Jay ruled against the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Trust. The compensation payment is expected to be six figures.
Upset
When she discovered she was pregnant, Mordel claims she told a midwife that she wished to undergo the screening for Down’s syndrome.
Lawyers for the NHS say that she was offered the test, but declined it.
Mordel’s medical notes record that she was “very upset and angry” when her son was diagnosed. She sued the NHS for wrongful birth.
In 2017, it was revealed that the NHS had given £70 million in compensation to parents who said they would have aborted their children if they knew they were disabled.
Happy and fulfilled
Actress Sally Phillips has previously spoken out against testing for Down’s syndrome in the womb.
Phillips, whose 14-year-old son Olly has the condition, says the NHS are pressuring women into having abortions instead of educating them.
She said that she and son Olly have “happy and fulfilled lives”, and while there are challenges to raising a child with Down’s syndrome, there are also “great, great rewards”.