Doctor told me sex of unborn baby in spite of all prohibitory laws

[r2inoida]

Recently I had gone for my NT scan in the 13th week. Since it is a specialized scan, I chose one of the reputed diagnostic centers in Delhi thinking they might have better machines and better trained sinologist. After coming out of the place, I haven?t been getting good vibes and found it very shady. Just venting out here.

As I was waiting for my turn for ultrasound, there was a very prominent notice board displaying ?We do not do pre determination of baby?s sex. It is a punishable offence .?. Fine , I didn?t find anything weird there.

When my turn came and I went inside, the nurse made me sign a consent form in which I had to give my consent that I do not want to know the sex of the baby. Well, I signed it. Then the nurse asked me if it is my first or second child. I thought maybe it is medically relevant for the scan and so I told her this is my second baby. Next the nurse wanted to know whether my first one is a boy or girl. Upto then I did not find anything suspicious. Well, I did think why would that be important to the nurse or doctor. Anyways, I did tell her the answer.

Now during the course of the scan, the doctor was referring to the baby as ?baby? or ?fetus?. But after a while, the doctor started referring to the baby by gender telling me this is her leg, this is her neck etc.

I found all this business very fishy. In all my previous scans in my previous child, I have never seen the doctor referring to the baby by gender. Was the doctor trying to convey something without me asking him. Was he waiting that I would prod him further on the sex of the baby and then he would tell me you have to pay so and so amount to know the sex.

Came back from the scan with a very bad taste in the mouth . Just wondering how easy it is to find the gender of the baby after all such prohibitory laws .

[cabo]

Firstly, external genitalia development is not complete until 20 th week. I understand that Gender identification through ultrasound before atleast 16-18 weeks is unreliable.
Maybe, you were reading too much into what the doctor said. Even if he did think it was a girl and was trying to tell you- he has spilled the beans already, so where's the question of more money??

I am sure, it is not too difficult to find the sex of the baby if you want to and female infanticide continues to happen on a large scale, though things have been getting better.

PS- what's an NT scan?

[Desi]

Firstly, external genitalia development is not complete until 20 th week. I understand that Gender identification through ultrasound before atleast 16-18 weeks is unreliable.
Maybe, you were reading too much into what the doctor said. Even if he did think it was a girl and was trying to tell you- he has spilled the beans already, so where's the question of more money??

I am sure, it is not too difficult to find the sex of the baby if you want to and female infanticide continues to happen on a large scale, though things have been getting better.

PS- what's an NT scan?

I do not know if there is a way to reference the baby with "it" in Hindi. If the doctor is speaking Hindi (being Noida, one would assume so), then reference to Fetus may be as "baccha" or "bacchi" and even if not disclosing gender, the doctor will have to pick a word from the two unless the doctor chooses the word "baby" but even then sentence construction in Hindi using the word baby would still become gender specific - it may require a lot of care in sentence construction to remove all references to gender and perhaps that is more appropriate as to what the doctors should do.

[boca]

PS- what's an NT scan?

Dr. Watson says "Nuchal Translucency (NT) screening test". :)

[cabo]

Dr. Watson says "Nuchal Translucency (NT) screening test". :)

Thanks. Yes, I have noticed that Nuchal Translucency scans are routinely done in India ( downs syndrome/ other chromosomal screens) on almost everybody- not so in US. In US, they are called as Level II ultrasounds, I think.

[r2inoida]

I do not know if there is a way to reference the baby with "it" in Hindi. If the doctor is speaking Hindi (being Noida, one would assume so), then reference to Fetus may be as "baccha" or "bacchi" and even if not disclosing gender, the doctor will have to pick a word from the two unless the doctor chooses the word "baby" but even then sentence construction in Hindi using the word baby would still become gender specific - it may require a lot of care in sentence construction to remove all references to gender and perhaps that is more appropriate as to what the doctors should do.

He was speaking in english. In his first few sentences he addressed the baby as "fetus". later he started addressing by gender.

[r2inoida]

Firstly, external genitalia development is not complete until 20 th week.

I am told by a Gynec friend that fetal gender identification can be done by very strong ultrasound machines as early as 13 weeks.

Maybe the doctor thought I would inquire and try to confirm with him and that is how he could make some more money

[oasis138]

Just wondering how easy it is to find the gender of the baby after all such prohibitory laws .

Piece of cake.

[XOXO]

Maybe the doctor thought I would inquire and try to confirm with him and that is how he could make some more money

IMO, you are reading too much into it.
Probablly the doc likes babygirls and thats why refers all fetuses as 'her'.

[Imissindia]

Recently I had gone for my NT scan in the 13th week. Since it is a specialized scan, I chose one of the reputed diagnostic centers in Delhi thinking they might have better machines and better trained sinologist. After coming out of the place, I haven’t been getting good vibes and found it very shady. Just venting out here.

As I was waiting for my turn for ultrasound, there was a very prominent notice board displaying “We do not do pre determination of baby’s sex. It is a punishable offence .”. Fine , I didn’t find anything weird there.

When my turn came and I went inside, the nurse made me sign a consent form in which I had to give my consent that I do not want to know the sex of the baby. Well, I signed it. Then the nurse asked me if it is my first or second child. I thought maybe it is medically relevant for the scan and so I told her this is my second baby. Next the nurse wanted to know whether my first one is a boy or girl. Upto then I did not find anything suspicious. Well, I did think why would that be important to the nurse or doctor. Anyways, I did tell her the answer.

Now during the course of the scan, the doctor was referring to the baby as “baby” or “fetus”. But after a while, the doctor started referring to the baby by gender telling me this is her leg, this is her neck etc.

I found all this business very fishy. In all my previous scans in my previous child, I have never seen the doctor referring to the baby by gender. Was the doctor trying to convey something without me asking him. Was he waiting that I would prod him further on the sex of the baby and then he would tell me you have to pay so and so amount to know the sex.

Came back from the scan with a very bad taste in the mouth . Just wondering how easy it is to find the gender of the baby after all such prohibitory laws .

I don't see what is so fishy about it. You are just assuming negatives. It is very hard for a doctor to remain super careful and use non personal terms like fetus or baby. It is easy to slip into his/her leg. Remember, a doctor is very busy and this law is something that is forced upon him-he/she isn't trained on avoiding it at all cost. Finally, he might have made a reasonable determination that you were a educated person and unlikely to engage in such practices and thus might have decided to give a clue. I would thank him for helping me out as most parents are keen to know whether they have a boy or girl coming as then they can plan accordingly, choose names and so on. People often interpret laws flexibly in India and while not technically legal, it seems harmless in this case.