[Counseling in prenatal diagnosis and possible handicap: medical viewpoint]

The possibility and the application of prenatal diagnostics (PND) has fundamentally changed the psychological experience of pregnancy for the pregnant woman, the expectant father, and society. When dealing with PND a balance between the positive effects for a large number of people and the risks and strains for an also considerable number of affected people must be strived for. This affects the decisions for and against examinations or interventions and coping with these, suitable strategies of care, and also possibilities of cooperation of different professions and institutions. Due to the growing number of possibilities of non-invasive methods a population-based PND is developing from the primarily individual PND. This means that the requirement for informed consent should affect all pregnant women. Informed consent is oriented on the situation, i.e. the more an examination is invasive/risky or the more serious the consequences are, the more extensive the information has to be. This requires a qualified caring person who must have well-founded somatic and psychosomatic knowledge, must also be able to conduct communicative counselling and create relationships, and be cooperative and be able to work in a team.