Archive for the ‘Current Affairs’ Category
Why aren’t embryos available for donation or adoption anyway?
October 17, 2008 | By: Elizabeth
I know Mel from Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters (http://stirrup-queens.blogspot.com/) asked me this question ages ago (sorry Mel, I should have gotten to it sooner, but I knew I was going to write this article and if I waited I could give you a better answer . . . hopefully this is the better answer!):
Why aren’t there more frozen embryos available for donation/adoption and why are the majority of those people with frozen embryos not able to donate them when they want to??
The answer is two-fold.
First: The biggest stumbling block to making embryos eligible for donation has to do with FDA regulations regarding screening for infectious diseases. Many, many of the cryopreserved embryos in storage today are not eligible for donation because at the time the embryo was created, the genetic parents of that embryo (either one or both of them) were not screened for certain infectious diseases, tests which are now required to be performed in order to make that embryo eligible for donation. At the time many of these frozen embryos were created, the FDA did not require the infectious disease screening and thus the embryos are now not eligible for donation because NOW the FDA requires the screening before an embryo can be donated. Did that make sense? If not, leave a comment and I will try and clarify.
Next problem: The FDA regulations and the implications of the testing are so misundersttod that even today, when the screening is MANDATED, the people undergoing the IVF are NOT always informed by the medical personnel at the clinic where they are being treated that, should they ever want to donate any embryos for purposes of a third-party’s conception that both genetic parents MUST be tested for these infectious diseases. Let me use an example to help understand the distinction about how the testing might have a greater impact on you than someone else: when the embryo will be created using donor eggs the egg donor is automatically screened by your clinic pursuant to the FDA regs.; otherwise she cannot donate the eggs to the recipient(s). If the recipient(s) want to donate one of the embryos created using the donor’s eggs, the male gamete provider (sometimes known as a husband) also has to have the infectious disease screening. I cannot tell you how many times my clients go to their clinic and have to ASK to have the husband tested in addition to the donor. I believe the FDA regs require both gamete providers to be tested now, but it would appear from my clients’ experiences that on more than one occasion the clinic or the person at the clinic with whom they are speaking (and I am trying to be fair, it is possible that my clients were talking to the wrong people who didn’t know about the FDA issues I am blogging about) indicated that the husband would not otherwise have been tested unless they had specifically requested it!
SO . . . Let’s say that tomorrow you are going in for egg retrieval and you and your partner want the right to donate any embryos you don’t use, did your clinic tell you that both you and your partner have to be tested? Did they test you both, twice? Did they even ask you whether you might want to donate? I bet not.
So, Mel. To answer your question. It all comes down to when the embryos were created in relation to the FDA regs and whether both gamete providers were appropriately screened when the embryos were created.
Filed under: Current Affairs
Embryo Donation/Adoption
October 17, 2008 | By: Elizabeth
I am writing a law review article (that was literally due yesterday) on embryo donation/adoption and why you can’t adopt an embryo. I am reading anything and everything I can get my hands on about embryo donation and I was surprised to discover that according to a lot of different research, most people won’t donate embryos. The theory is that most genetic parents hesitate to donate their embryos because their children would then have full genetic siblings being raised by someone else. However, I have four problems with this.
(1) almost any attorney, clinic, or agency that is helping people donate embryos will discuss whether the donating “parent(s)” would want any degree of openness or contact to exist between the families; this would enable the children/siblings to meet each other at a later point in time or from day one depending on familial preference.
(2) most of my clients who are now negotiating agreements with egg donors are REQUESTING that their donor agree to permit them to donate any unusued cryopreserved embryos for purposes of another infertile family’s conception. In this case there clearly isn’t a full genetic link but when I discuss the issue with my client, the decision to donate doesn’t revolve around whether or not the children have full or half siblings, it’s based on a need or desire to HELP other families.
(3) There are numerous adoptions conducted in this Country where a baby is placed for adoption when the parents are raising that baby’s full siblings. The birth mothers who choose to make an adoption plan in this situation are already pregnant and BONDING (whether they want to or not) with the baby they are carrying. If they can make an adoption plan under these circumstances — which in my opinion are much harder circumstances than considering donating embryos that may not implant and result in a pregnancy or live birth — than why should it be different for families with frozen embryos?
(4) I have helped people donate embryos that are full siblings to the children they created during the IVF cycle that produced the frozen embryos. These parents had no problems with donating the embryos even though the siblings would be genetically related.
As I sit hear reading this I realize that my article is probably going to fall on deaf ears because of the fewer than 2% of the estimated 400,000 embryos in frozen storage which are even eligible for donation (and this has to be another blog topic–why so few embryos are available for donation), most of those families won’t consent to donation.
So why aren’t people agreeing to donate embryos? Would you donate your frozen embryos?
Filed under: Current Affairs
Egg Donor Compensation
June 21, 2007 | By: Elizabeth
Okay, so I read the article in The New York Times about egg donors and how ALL egg donors donate eggs for the money. I wanted to puke. I happen to know a lot of egg donors who didn’t JUST do it for the money. Believe it or not some donors really do WANT to help people have babies. And I also happen to know from personal experience after 6 IVF cycles that this isn’t exactly a fun, pain-free process and I think that monetary compensation or a gift (whatever you want to call it) is appropriate. But at what point is that compensation crossing a line? In the UK, donors cannot receive any compensation and as a result there are no egg donors. Clearly, some financial incentive must exist for people to be able to build their families through egg donation.
However, notwithstanding whatever The New York Times may think, I have never met a donor who asked for $50,000 to donate her eggs. I’ve heard about them from many sources, including from that famous argument on The View (and again I wanted to puke–so much judgment from people who know so little about what it’s like to be infertile). These uber expensive donors may well exist, and they may have every right to ask for $50k (although I think the ASRM would have something to say about that), but I personally think they are urban legends.
What do you think about donor comp? Do you think it’s fair to compensate donors? Do they get enough money? Too much money? Should it be taxable income (in all states but California it is not taxable income unless and until the IRS issues an opinion)?
When responding to this blog, please refrain from flaming anyone, legitimate opinion is what we’re after here . . . lively discussion, but I will take down any comments that are offensive.
Filed under: Current Affairs
