OBJECTIVE: We identify the clinical implications of the ethics of informed consent for risk assessment for trisomy 21. FINDING: Based on the ethics of informed consent, we find that routinely offering first-trimester risk assessment in centers qualified to provide it is ethically obligatory, and routinely withholding the results of first-trimester risk assessment is ethically unjustified. CONCLUSION: The ethics of informed consent is an essential dimension of first-trimester risk assessment for trisomy 21.
OBJECTIVE: We identify the clinical implications of the ethics of informed consent for risk assessment for trisomy 21. FINDING: Based on the ethics of informed consent, we find that routinely offering first-trimester risk assessment in centers qualified to provide it is ethically obligatory, and routinely withholding the results of first-trimester risk assessment is ethically unjustified. CONCLUSION: The ethics of informed consent is an essential dimension of first-trimester risk assessment for trisomy 21.