My life, their hands

This isn't even vaguely funny, and isn't going to have a picture at the end.

I went to the Chelsea & Westminster hospital today, for a scan. They normally scan pregnant women at 20 weeks for abnormalities: I had come out with an increased risk of Down's syndrome, from one of the earlier tests, but wasn't comfortable with the idea of amniocentesis. So they had suggested scheduling the test a week or two earlier, and having it with one of the consultants. That at least gave me a bit of reassurance.

Except they didn't do what they said they would do. They scheduled the scan earlier than normal - which presumably means that they will have seen less than they would have done if they had done it at the normal time - but I showed up to find that it was being done by a very fresh-faced, clearly relatively junior sonographer. He couldn't see anything wrong, expressed surprise at the scan being done early, but said he reckoned he'd seen enough that it didn't need to be redone.

I have absolutely no idea what comfort I'm meant to take from this, and absolutely no confidence in the result.

This comes after a midwife's appointment a couple of weeks back when the midwife - who was an impatient non-native English speaker - repeatedly interrupted my questions before I had finished them, said things which contradicted my GP, and then contradicted herself when I queried what she had said (usually because I managed to finish giving her the information that I was trying to give her in the first place, although she did accuse me of lying at least once when she had simply failed to listen to the nuance of what I had said...). The point at which I decided she was dangerous was when she told me that an injection, which the leaflet she had just given me made clear was a human blood product, 'had no risk at all' - as she stared at me indignantly for daring to ask the question.

My life is in these people's hands. I don't seem to have much choice in the matter, and they are absolutely terrifying me.