L Hamilton

Thursday 15 August 1996

Letters: Bad vibes on ultrasound

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Sir: I sit down for a moment's quiet read, feeling exhausted, sick and 19 weeks pregnant, after a morning running around after my 16- month tornado. Tomorrow I'm off for my ultrasound scan - modern technology with no side-effects - and what am I faced with in today's Independent (13 August)? An expose on the safety of ultrasound scans.

Great. It appears now that there is a risk to the future speech system of my baby if I go through with it. A small risk, but none the less the seed has been sown. We are currently enjoying our existing son's dalliance with random words like turtle, sky, biscuit, so it seems he has escaped the threat of speech delay after being zapped himself as a 19-week foetus. By going along tomorrow for the scan, now no longer ignorant of its potential dangers, am I knowingly putting the brain of this child at risk?

I don't think anyone will know for sure by tomorrow, so I'll drink the three pints of liquid, hope that my bladder doesn't explode in the waiting room, and pray that bad luck or bad rays don't strike my baby.

L HAMILTON

Aldbourne,

Wiltshire

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