Pointless egg yolk and soya jabs pushed bill to £22,000. In the end we had baby naturally
A COUPLE claim an IVF clinic exploited them by charging £2,000 for injections of a mixture of egg yolk and soya oil.
Kerry and Glyn Tomlinson had three failed rounds of IVF at the Zita West clinic in central London, costing £4,000 a time.
But they were also sold an array of ‘add-on’ treatments. Doctors convinced them to pay for an ‘intralipid’ infusion to boost their chances of having a baby – even though it is widely discredited.
It is said to prevent a woman’s immune system going into overdrive and destroying an embryo by confusing it with a virus. Clinics claim this can be prevented with the intralipid infusion of egg yolk and soya oil.
During her first cycle, Mrs Tomlinson was charged £380 three times for a nurse to visit and administer the mixture through a drip. She had the treatment in her other cycles at varying cost, adding up to £2,000 in all.
The clinic also put her on a course of steroids for two years and sold her pregnancy vitamins, omega 3 tablets, protein powder, superfood powder and acupuncture.
Mrs Tomlinson, 45, who was diagnosed with ‘unexplained infertility’, worries about the effect the cocktail of drugs could have on her health. In total, the couple, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, spent £22,000 on failed treatment at the Zita West clinic.
They were even charged for pregnancy tests and, when they left the clinic, had to pay a £50 fee to get copies of their medical notes.
After they stopped fertility treatment, Mrs Tomlinson conceived naturally, having a son, Freddie, who is now almost two.
Ashley Moffett, professor of reproductive immunology at Cambridge University, has reviewed receipts for the treatments given to the Tomlinsons by the Zita West clinic.
She said there was no convincing evidence that immune cells could cause pregnancy failure, adding: ‘There is no reason for any woman to take these therapies. They are all risky and some of the side-effects are serious.
‘They can give rise to allergic reactions or make women susceptible to infections that could also affect the baby.’
Mrs Tomlinson said she and her husband, 52, were targeted at their ‘most desperate moments’, adding: ‘We trusted what our doctor told us. It was never clear how controversial the drugs were. It was presented as the ingredient we had been missing.’
She warned other couples to wait longer before spending thousands on IVF, adding: ‘We put our life savings into this and had nothing to show for it. When we eventually got preg- nant naturally, we were over the moon. But we do feel taken advantage of. At every stage, they will try to rip you off.’
The Zita West clinic denies the couple’s claims, including the suggestion it rips patients off or takes advantage of them. It says patients considering reproductive immunological treatment are informed that it is experimental, and insists Mr and Mrs Tomlinson never complained to the clinic.
Zita West said the cost of the intralipid home treatment was paid to the firm providing it for the first cycle. It said any subsequent intralipid treatments provided by the clinic were among the lowest cost in Britain.
A spokesman said: ‘We are proud of the work of our fantastic staff and our consistently high success rates and make no apology for being prepared to try alternative treatment, particularly to help those who have failed with IVF at other clinics. We categorically deny that we misled Mr and Mrs Tomlinson about the prospects of success of using a reproductive immunology-based approach.’
‘At every stage, they will try to rip you off’