Damning verdict on doctors who sold false hope
LONDON WOMEN’S CLINIC, DARLINGTON
Dr Safwat Ashour said egg sharers were interested in financial rewards, adding: ‘You shouldn’t put this in writing. If you make it clear that it is for financial reasons, you will not be accepted.’
The clinic targeted women on low incomes, saying they may be interested in egg sharing if their ‘minds are on the recent recession’. Couples were offered high interest loans.
WATCHDOG ACTION
The firm is banned from offering egg sharing and the manager who runs the clinic has to be replaced. It was found to have breached the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s code and must also review its website.
HERTS & ESSEX FERTILITY CENTRE
The clinic was advertising for new egg sharers on Twitter with the hashtag ‘#FreeIVF’. Couples were told that ‘an egg isn’t a baby’ and donating is ‘just like giving blood’. It found the clinic had breached its code of practice and advertising online went ‘against the principle of altruistic donation’. The firm must stop advertising for egg sharers in this way.
LISTER FERTILITY CLINIC
A consultant told prospective patients that freezing 15 to 20 eggs was ‘a reasonable insurance policy’ even though figures from the fertility authority suggest that just one in 50 frozen eggs leads to a baby. Chastised the clinic, which is based in central London, for using information that had ‘no statistical validity’ and said it must review its practices to make sure prospective patients are given ‘accurate and relative statistical information’.
THE CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE AND GENETIC HEALTH
During a free 15-minute consultation, a reporter was told she could freeze her eggs at 30 and the chance of success would be as high as 65 per cent – even though figures show only around 15 per cent of such IVF cycles are successful. It confirmed the Mail’s reporter was not given accurate information. The clinic is now reviewing the use of free short consultations.
CREATE
Dr Melina Stasinou suggested a reporter could be an ‘altruistic’ donor in return for legal compensation of up to £750, which she could use for her own IVF. It said the clinic’s ‘egg donation practices are compliant with regulatory requirements’. Managers held a meeting to make sure staff understand issues around altruistic donation and compensation.