Birth clinic offers free treatment to egg donors
A PRIVATE clinic is offering free fertility treatment to women provided they agree to donate eggs to help others to become pregnant. The Cromwell Clinic in Washington, Tyne and Wear, a satellite clinic of the Cromwell Hospital in west London, operates a scheme that allows couples to give eggs in lieu of payment for fertility treatment.
It is illegal to buy or sell eggs from a woman, but there is no law stopping the exchange of eggs for treatment. Susan Burton, from Tyneside, was told that she could exchange some of her eggs for fertility treatment at the clinic.
Mrs Burton, who has four children from a previous marriage, had twice undergone unsuccessful fertility treatment with the NHS. She could not afford the Pounds 2,000 fee for IVF treatment at the Cromwell Clinic, but staff told her that she could help if she donated half the eggs she produced under the treatment to someone unable to produce their own. She is now waiting for the clinic to find the ideal recipient for her eggs so that her own treatment can begin.
Mrs Burton said: “I feel as if I am bartering my eggs for this treatment. I think it’s a shame I have to do it this way.”
Bryan Vernon, lecturer in medical ethics at Newcastle upon Tyne University, said yesterday: “I have severe ethical problems with this. I think this is just a way of getting around having to pay for eggs.
“It feels like the egg is being bought. And just as we don’t like the idea of children being bought, I don’t think we ought to be able to buy the `components parts’ of a child.”
Donor eggs are available on the National Health Service but there are long waiting lists because of a shortage of volunteers wishing to donate.
The Cromwell Clinic launched its “swap” scheme more than a year ago. Dr Kamal Ahuja, a director, said at the time it was intended to offer hope to patients facing a desperate race against time for children.
He said: “Now women who do ovulate but have other infertility problems can donate eggs to another patient who will then pay for both their treatments.
“Many couples desperate for a family have no choice but for a donor to step forward in time. This way they not only find a donor quickly but will also be helping another couple as well.” The scheme is not practised by the majority of test-tube baby clinics, but is legal and has the approval of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Under the authority’s rules a woman may donate eggs to another woman, but cannot be paid more than Pounds 15, plus expenses.
Ben Plumley, spokesman for the authority, said: “Women donating their eggs are offered counselling. Nobody is forced to do it.”
Birth clinic offers free treatment to egg donors
A PRIVATE clinic is offering free fertility treatment to women provided they agree to donate eggs to help others to become pregnant. The Cromwell Clinic in Washington, Tyne and Wear, a satellite clinic of the Cromwell Hospital in west London, operates a scheme that allows couples to give eggs in lieu of payment for fertility treatment.
It is illegal to buy or sell eggs from a woman, but there is no law stopping the exchange of eggs for treatment. Susan Burton, from Tyneside, was told that she could exchange some of her eggs for fertility treatment at the clinic.
Mrs Burton, who has four children from a previous marriage, had twice undergone unsuccessful fertility treatment with the NHS. She could not afford the Pounds 2,000 fee for IVF treatment at the Cromwell Clinic, but staff told her that she could help if she donated half the eggs she produced under the treatment to someone unable to produce their own. She is now waiting for the clinic to find the ideal recipient for her eggs so that her own treatment can begin.
Mrs Burton said: “I feel as if I am bartering my eggs for this treatment. I think it’s a shame I have to do it this way.”
Bryan Vernon, lecturer in medical ethics at Newcastle upon Tyne University, said yesterday: “I have severe ethical problems with this. I think this is just a way of getting around having to pay for eggs.
“It feels like the egg is being bought. And just as we don’t like the idea of children being bought, I don’t think we ought to be able to buy the `components parts’ of a child.”
Donor eggs are available on the National Health Service but there are long waiting lists because of a shortage of volunteers wishing to donate.
The Cromwell Clinic launched its “swap” scheme more than a year ago. Dr Kamal Ahuja, a director, said at the time it was intended to offer hope to patients facing a desperate race against time for children.
He said: “Now women who do ovulate but have other infertility problems can donate eggs to another patient who will then pay for both their treatments.
“Many couples desperate for a family have no choice but for a donor to step forward in time. This way they not only find a donor quickly but will also be helping another couple as well.” The scheme is not practised by the majority of test-tube baby clinics, but is legal and has the approval of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Under the authority’s rules a woman may donate eggs to another woman, but cannot be paid more than Pounds 15, plus expenses.
Ben Plumley, spokesman for the authority, said: “Women donating their eggs are offered counselling. Nobody is forced to do it.”
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