Egg Donation for Stem Cell Research in England – Compensation Question

by admin on October 15, 2011

In Great Britain is a very strictly enforced cap on egg donor compensation – however, some bioethics experts say that the laws should be reconsidered, particularly when it comes to egg donation for stem cell research. Watch the video below for more info or read the comprehensive report Human bodies: donation for medicine and research.

Via BioEdge

{ 0 comments }

Egg Freezing – What’s it really like

by admin on October 8, 2011

On the CNN website there is an article titled Freezing your eggs — the costs and other realities by Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

If you are a woman, and you don’t want to have children yet, but are concerned that by the time you are ready, your eggs might already be too old, then this is an option. You can visit a fertility center that offers egg freezing and have your eggs securely stored in an egg bank there, until the time when you want to get pregnant. Then you can have them fertilized with your husbands sperm and implanted into your uterus.

In the USA there are around 5000 women who have their eggs frozen.

However, the costs associated with it are also pretty high. The costs per circle are around $6000-$15000 – and sometimes a woman needs more than one circle to produce viable eggs.

Also, there are plenty of risks:

  • the eggs might not survive the freezing process
  • the eggs might not create viable embryos
  • the eggs might not attach to the uterus when doctors implant them.

Experts estimate that women who freeze their eggs between the ages of 32 – 35 have about a 50% chance of achieving pregnancy, whereas those between 35 – 38 have a chance of 35%, and those between 39 – 40 years have a chance of around 20%-25%, and above that it goes down even further.

Before you decide to have your eggs frozen you should have let your anti-Mullerian hormone levels checked, as this can be an indicator how good your chances are.

{ 0 comments }

When to consider an egg donor?

by admin on September 30, 2011

Dr. Mark Surrey answers the question when you should consider an egg donor:

{ 0 comments }

Egg Donation Euphemisms

by admin on September 25, 2011

The infertility business is now a 3 billion Dollar industry. That’s a lot of money, even though most people don’t think of it most of the time – it’s something that only those who have problems conceiving really pay attention too. When an infertile woman needs an egg donor for example.

The Huffington Post has featured an interview with Rene Almeling, author of “Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm”.

Click here to read “Sex Cells”

The interview is interesting because it is written by an outsider to the industry – someone who has no financial stake in this game, yet someone who has been researching this topic for many years and has a lot of expertise. Someone who is so deep “in the know”, and yet so impartial, that is something hard to find in the fertility industry.

One of the things she mentions is the common use of euphemistic language in the egg donation field. For example, even though women often receive large cash payments for donating an egg, they don’t refer to these payments as wages or compensation, but rather as gifts. This is very different from men, who talk about this more in terms of a business transaction. It is true though that the majority of donors – both men and women – donate mainly because of financial reasons – they want to make money. However, especially for women, this is something that is usually not openly admitted or expressed.

You can read the whole interview here.

 

 

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →