Some bright spark at the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence wants all alcohol intake by expectant mothers to be recorded, regardless of whether they consent. This would reveal whether a mother had consumed a single drink during the first week of pregnancy – a time when they may not even have realised they were expecting.
There is no consistent system in place to monitor drinking among pregnant women which, according to NICE, is a problem. Midwives ask about alcohol but it is not mandatory to record the information; NICE wants women at antenatal appointments to be grilled on the pattern and frequency of their drinking and the numbers and type of beverage. This information would be noted in maternity records and later transferred to the baby’s health records after birth.
Quite rightly, people are up in arms over the notion that women should lose their right to medical confidentiality simply because they are pregnant – not to mention the fundamental question of how this measure could possibly be enacted.
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