PATIENTS WHO GET WHAT THEY WANT - POLICY AND POWER IN THE CONTEXT OF PRENATAL-CARE

This article examines a request for amniocentesis, a prenatal screenin g test, for a middle-class, professional couple in a a major city in O ntario, Canada. The unfolding of this case over time permits analysis of some practices employed in the Canadian and in the U.S. health care systems, especially insofar as these practices can be influenced by p articipants' technical knowledge, social networks, and willingness to persevere in the face of bureaucratic obstacles to ''get what they wan t.''