IN-VITRO CLINICS ENGAGE IN RISKY PRACTICES TO ATTRACT BUSINESS

NEWTON, Mass., July 11, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Doctors have told New Scientist magazine that competition to score a high ranking in published tables of in-vitro fertilization successes is driving some clinics “to select younger patients with a higher chance of getting pregnant, to implant more embryos than necessary, and even to recommend IVF to women who do not need it.”“Multiple pregnancies are more dangerous for both mothers and babies,” the New Scientist reports, and are not necessary to achieve success. Mothers are more likely to suffer from complications including high blood pressure, haemorrhage and pre-eclampsia. The babies are more likely to be deformed or premature with a low birthweight.  Some of the pressure does come from parents who see the birth of twins as an “instant family.” Yet according to Jacques Cohen, director of the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of Saint Barnabas in New Jersey, many clinics with poor technique try to “boost their position in the tables … by implanting more.”  To read a New Scientist report see: https://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992523