‘Miracle’ baby arrives after abortion recommended

February 27, 2008

An urgent review has been ordered into hospital procedures after an unborn baby diagnosed with rhomboencephalosynapsis, a rare and serious brain disease, was born without handicap to parents who now call him their “miracle.”

The case developed in the Fetal Medicine Unit at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where doctors first thought the baby known as Brandon Kramer, and who now is teething and trying to talk, had Down’s Syndrome, according to a new report in the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom.

They later diagnosed the more rare brain condition after they determined he suffered from a swollen head and hydrocephalus while in the womb. They said tests showed his condition worsening, and they recommended to the parents that he be aborted.

The newspaper cited medical notes written by pediatric neurologist Dr. Cathy White shortly before Brandon’s birth:

“Rhomboencephalosynapsis is an extraordinarily rare congenital abnormality and this, therefore, makes it very difficult to predict the long-term outcome for this baby,” she wrote.

“I have explained to them [the parents] that children with this condition are likely to be profoundly handicapped with severe physical and learning disabilities and will be totally dependent for the whole of their life,” she continued. “They often need the level of care given to babies for the whole of their lives.”

Brandon’s mother, Becky Weatherall, and father, Kriss Kramer, were offered “termination” because of the diagnosis and doctors’ expectations he would be born deaf and blind and would survive no more than a few hours.

The report said, however, Brandon was born naturally and quickly given a clean bill of health after being examined by a team of specialists.

The parents say they are publicizing their situation to let people know.

“Perhaps doctors shouldn’t put so much confidence in scans,” Weatherall told the newspaper. “One of the older doctors we spoke to said a scan is like a fuzzy image of a snowstorm – it cannot be relied upon – and he turned out to be right.”

The British Pediatric Neurology Association confirmed MRI scans are a new development, and “the problem is that it’s hard to go from what the brain looks like to how it’s going to work.”

Officials at Cardiff told the newspaper they couldn’t comment on individual cases because of confidentiality issues, but “ultrasound is not 100 percent accurate.”

“I feel incredibly guilty thinking that I could have killed him – and then I find myself wondering how many other babies are killed who would have turned out to be completely health,” Weatherall said. “Just two weeks before he was born scans showed that his head was so swollen it was off the scale for normal babies but when he had an MRI scan on Christmas Eve it was confirmed he was completely healthy.

“We had prepared to spend Christmas without him – we thought we’d be planning a funeral. Instead, it was the best Christmas present ever and now we’re having a christening.”

On the newspaper’s forum, Sarah noted that scans are a “doubled edged sword” because they sometimes are inaccurate.

“Congratulations and well done for publicizing the story so other parents are made aware of these kinds of mistakes,” added Cathy.

Officials said their investigation will focus on whether the diagnosis was incorrect, or whether the baby had some abnormalities, but then recovered.

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