An Auckland woman who contracted a disease spread by cats believes that, if it weren’t for New Zealand’s “laid-back” approach to maternity care, her unborn child could be alive today. She said her son’s illness was preventable and had created a “lifelong scar” she did not want any other woman to experience. Lana* lost her baby near the end of last year.
It was her first pregnancy. After the standard 20-week anatomy scan, she was surprised to be told her next scan would not be for another 10 weeks. She contacted multiple clinics asking if she could pay to have another scan in between but was told she could not have an ultrasound without a referral from her midwife with a valid reason.
“Ten weeks, I feel, is a long time for things to go wrong,” she said..