Posts Tagged ‘egg donation’

Last night I attended a meeting organised by the Progressive Educational trust regarding egg donation and payment .This is a huge topic and last night was certainly a good part of the jigsaw puzzle .

I have written some notes below but overall what I was left with was how important a debate this is and must be for all involved . I dont think there are easy answers but I certainly think Egg sharing , if handled well is possibly the best option we have .

We need more information and education given to would be Donors and recepients and certainly more emotional support not just short term but long term .

Again to my mind organisations like the D.C network here play such a crucial role in supporting and resourcing people and should be praised for all they are doing in this area .

Let me know your thoughts .This is a topic here to stay ..

All best wishes

Anya

Notes from P.E.T evening 20th Oct 2010

“Paying Egg donors , a child at any price ?”

Sue Avery ( Director of Birmingham ACU )

A move from compensation means a move from “ donation “ to “ transaction “

Is this necessarily bad ?

Does this begin a slippery slope of commodifying cells …embryos ..children and thus people ?

Whose choice is most important , the Donors or the recipients ?

Brian Lieberman ( Consultant at Manchester )

Has done a u turn in his thinking re egg sharing mainly due to the fear re lack of care when outsourcing the need for gametes abroad .

Importance of people knowing the risks involved on every level and thus the importance of good counseling especially re OHSS , reduction in chances of conceiving , and the concept of half siblings .

Should we allow a fee to be put on a waiting list

Ultimate danger is the recipients will be exploited and the Donors put at risk

Brenda Almond ( professor of Moral and social philosophy at Hull )

Is it ever right to sell human genetic material ?

Fear of financially vunerable people being exploited

What is the long term impact on a donor conceived child ?

Laura Witjens (  Chair of national Gamete trust )

A difficult debate with no right or wrong answers

Removal of anonymity seems to have not impacted numbers as feared

Suggestion of monetary “ appreciation and gesture “ rather than payment

Altruism should still be main drive and encouraged

Approx. £700 suggested as a fee to low to act as key incentive but big enough to acknowledge what has happened and the impact on this person .

Comments from the audience during Q and A

Importance of the children in all this . Not represented enough in the debate

Over the years the incentive for egg sharing amounts has greatly increased from a few hundred to a few thousand now .

Could some Donors actually be put off my finances being brought in at all ?

Desire to create a fixed fee not variable rates for Gametes

Importance of DC children being given a coherent story regarding their background . Coherent implying not just a payment issue but an emotional one primarily .

There is no evidence to show that long term , women who had’nt conceived after donating would experience unhelpful Psychological  effects . On the contrary they seem to feel that at least something positive had come out of that time

What would a child feel like if they knew they had been paid for ? All DC children interviewed by one person said they would rather finances not come into it .

newcastle research paper said that all women interviewed on Egg sharing scheme had thought of it as a mutually beneficial exchange

If Egg sharing taken away how would we replace the 40% that this makes up currently ?

We live in a suboptimal world and thus this is the best not the perfect option .

We are moving forward and hopefully thus attitudes changing

“ best possible option not the ideal “

What right does society have to tell a woman she CANT sell her eggs ?

need for better recruitment

Summary

Sue Avery

Danger of any lump sum . At the end of the process the Donor should be no worse off financially but better off emotionally

Brenda Almond

Long term it is the interests of DC children that is key

Brian Lieberman

Egg donors will get strength from going through the process even if it doesn’t work .Need to keep Altruism as key

Laura Witjens

need more funding for recruitment of Altruistic Donors

Raanan Gillon

Need for positive persuasion not cohersion

Two links in todays news re last night :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11574782

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/20/egg-donation-fertility-treatment-pay

SO… here I am day 5 of my brand new role as Fertility support coordinator for the London Women’s clinic and its been an amazing few days on so many levels .

A bit of background needed though first in that this is a role I have been in negotiations regarding for quite some time and in many ways is a continuation of the work I have been doing from home .

 Except that I don’t have to empty the dishwasher here and don’t have a cat permanently trying to sit on my keyboard …

The clinic is a fantastic one and I have had many clients come here over the years and report back encouraging things .

I think as a clinic they really are trying to move away from people feeling like they are on a conveyor belt to  being really listened to and supported through treatment

( “ I am not a number “ I hear you cry !! ) .

 Which is where my role fits in as Fertility support coordinator .

I am here to see clients individually , to run a support group and set up new workshops on such issues as stress management and coping when treatment fails .

I am also here for people to just drop in on and let off a bit of steam . And steam there often is during treatment …

Basically it is a role I am chuffed to bits to be doing and one which I hope will make a  difference to patients welfare .

So thats the overview ..here are some of the highlights from these last few weeks ..

• Met a lovely young lady about to sign up as a donor because she had been moved by reading of the need for egg donors out there . What a fantastic thing to be doing , and what an inspirational route to be taking to help others

 

• Met up with the rest of the staff here and again amazed at the great work they are doing . From the receptionist who always makes an effort even at the busiest of times to the VERY hard working nurses  , these people really are making a difference .

 

• Managed to brave it into to the staff room ( felt about 12 yrs old !) to meet members of staff ..all very friendly and supportive and managed to regain composure enough to feel 36 again ..

 

• Written various pieces for the LWC  magazine

 

• Met several new patients in waiting room and office for quick chats all at various stages of treatment . Peoples stories and paths to parenthood never cease to move and inspire me . And to remind me that we are not alone in our fertility issues .

 

• Set up plans for a new support group here at the clinic to be started and launched in next few weeks …

 

• Had large physical battle with the tea machine in waiting area and WON …1-0 to me in the battle to make a decent cuppa …YESSS !

 

More than anything I have realised again the enormity of what people face when going through infertility . The daily sadness , mingled with hope , determination and resolve . And realised again the sheer number of people facing this issue .

There is such a lot of support out there . from places like the London Women’s clinic , to the Wonderful work of INUK ( www.theinfertilitynetworkuk.com ) , to the great people using Twitter to raise awareness and comprehension .

Though lonely and frustrating there is help and support to be found .

I hope to be a part of that help and look forward to what the next few months and years will bring .

All best wishes

Anya

Fertility support coordinator and champion of the Tea machine at the London Women’s clinic

When my daughter was only a few weeks old we began to attend an NCT class full of mums and babies all coming to terms with being a new mum .

For me however the transition was an even harder one coming after IVF and being told countless times that this would never happen for us . I felt in many ways that I was a ” pretend ” mum . And still found myself hanging onto the label of Infertility patient .

It was during one of those meetings that a new mum walked in and I recognised something in her facial reaction , something in her emotions that was later confirmed. She too was an IVF mum .

But for her in some ways it was even harder for she was in her late fourties when she had had her son through egg  donation . She had already started to get the comments about her “grandson” , and then the shock from some people on finding out he was actually hers .

The thing that struck me about Billy , and indeed hits me time and time again with children following treatment is just how unbelievably  self assured they are right from the start . Its as if ( nature / nurture who knows ..!) They just realise that they are MEANT .

Watching the BBC programme last night about older mothers and reading the newspapers  I again realise how emotive a topic this is . But then arent most things in the world of a.r.t ?! How strongly people with no experience of such an issue seem to feel .

But surely this is a huge grey area rather than a black and white ?

Certainly at the moment even the HFEA seems quite vague about how to decide what is and isnt too old . NHS IVF only goes up to late thirties , and the only other concern is that all clinics place the welfare of the child firmly into the equation when deciding whether to allow an individual to go ahead with treatment . Again leaving an awful lot of room for grey areas …

So how do we decide ? By what criteria ? I look around at dear friends of mine who as of yet at the ” ripe old age ” of mid /late thirties have yet to meet mr Right , or are in a second significant relationship ..or for many other valid reasons have yet to start trying for a family .

If they hit problems in only a few years time at 39 their elligability for NHS treatment will be gone and they will be forced into the private sector . This is far more complicated than just a generation of so called ” career women “, this is life in 2010 .

Thus to me I would say that at the very least the NHS  Criteria should be increased to mid fourties , at the least .

But then how to determine what the cut off age should be ? Several people in the papers today are calling for parliament too intervene and set guidelines . The majority of whom I bet you have not been through the heartache of Infertility .

I remain undecided as to what I would do , other than having it increased at least to mid fourties . But Perhaps then that is the answer . That there is no easy solution , just a lot of individuals and individual cases out there , who find themselves still desperate for a child past the age that even they would have desired .

When I read the antagonistic comments and judgements poured out regarding this topic the one image I am left with is my friends child , Billy . Full to the brim with life and enthusiasm , loved to bits and ready to take on the world . Surely the welfare of the child for him has been met .And met with flying colours .

BEST WISHES

Anya