Turning away business
We received a phone call this morning from a couple who wished our help to get pregnant. They said they were ready to do IVF using donor eggs. It’s not often that you come across someone who expresses their readiness to commit $25K or so to having a baby. However, before the patient could make an initial appointment with us, we knew enough to know that we were not willing to take on their case. The problem? The couple was in search of an IVF program that would be willing to do an egg donation cycle using a relative who was 16 years old. They said that the donor was willing and had her parents’ approval as well. In the past, we had a stated policy that our preferred egg donor age range was 18-27, but now have amended it to 21-27. In any case, I support the freedom we have in the United States, where doctors are the primary decision-makers in such matters, rather than non-medical lawyers and politicians. So we exercised our responsibility to say NO and explain that all egg donors have to do so willingly of their own consent, which necessitates that somebody must be of an age that CAN give consent and 16 was too young.
The caller than asked if we could refer them to another program that would take their case. I knew right away about another center that in the past has taken on cases that we had refused on ethical grounds, but again, we made the decision not to be accomplices in this, no matter how remotely. Given how much that other center spends on marketing, it’s likely that this couple will find them on their own. We can only hope that my colleagues adhere to the general guidelines and act accordingly out of the desire to practice sound ethical medicine, even though these guidelines are not 100% strictly enforced.
