Hospital specialists report cases of missed health problems, misdiagnosed conditions, and women erroneously told their babies had died
High street clinics offering pregnancy scans could be putting unborn babies and their mothers in danger through a lack of properly trained staff, UK experts have warned.
According to the Society for Radiographers (SoR), high street clinics have seen a huge growth in numbers. However, hospital specialists say they have seen cases of missed health problems, misdiagnosed conditions, and situations in which women were erroneously told their babies were malformed or had died.
“I had a lady referred for a potential miscarriage from a clinic and when I scanned her they’d measured a bleed in the womb and they completely missed a very early pregnancy sac with a baby inside it,” said Katie Thompson, a hospital sonographer and president of the SoR.
“Potentially, if they were at a private clinic that could offer a miscarriage service, then they could have been given some medication to bring on a miscarriage on a pregnancy that was actually not miscarrying,” she said.
