The page fetaldex.org was created by me (Alice Dreger) in 2010 to bring awareness to the problematic use of prenatal dexamethasone in pregnant women suspected of potentially carrying a genetic-female embryo or fetus with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). The site included reports of ongoing developments in the controversial use, as well as some commentary.
In 2015, Penguin Press published my book, Galileo’s Middle Finger, which contains an extensive review of my historical findings with regard to the unethical actions surrounding prenatal dex for CAH. Because the book chapters on prenatal dex include complete documentation – including of highly revealing material I obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – it makes more sense to refer people to that scholarship than to the fetaldex.org website, particularly as the website software has aged-out, and updating it would require a complete migration and update.
If you would like to view the pages that existed at the fetaldex.org website, please use the Wayback Machine to find the pages. You can also access for free a research article I published in 2012 with co-authors Ellen K. Feder and Anne Tamar-Mattis, “Prenatal Dexamethasone for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: An Ethics Canary in the Modern Medical Mine,” although please note that I uncovered significantly more information (included in Galileo’s Middle Finger) after we published that work.
You can also read a plain-English summary of the use of prenatal dex for miscarriage prevention (a shocking situation) and for suspected CAH in this article I published at The Atlantic: “IVF on Steroids: The Dangerous Use of ‘Dex’ During Pregnancy.”
Copies of Galileo’s Middle Finger are available for free through your library, and you can also purchase new and used copies of the book through various booksellers. The book is also available as an e-book and an audiobook.
Questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact me.