Posts Tagged ‘egg donation’
Monday, October 12th, 2009
During the early years of IVF treatment, it was always assumed that transferring more embryos would improve success rates. Even 20 years ago, it quickly became apparent that this success came at the expense of a high multiple birth rate. In response o this, many European countries and Australia limited the number of embryos that could be legally transferred to woman’s uterus. While laudable, these restrictions tend to be rigid and do not always take into account the age of the producer.
In the U.S., we have adopted a voluntary system through the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The ASRM has published guidelines that take into account maternal age and are more flexible. However, as seen in the recent case of the famous octuplets, there are no serious consequences when a poor outcome is attributed to not adhering to these guidelines.
While these measures have greatly reduced the incidence of triplets and higher-order multiple births, the incidence of twins remains high, especially with egg donation. Many patients may think this is fine. In fact, many couples express a desire to have twins. Their preferences are affected by a belief that transferring two or three embryos improves success rates, and, for some, a financial motive that sees twins as a “two-for-the-price of one.”
The success rate belief may be inaccurate. Many European studies, as well as our experience, strongly suggest that the success rates with two day-3 embryos is equal to the success rate with one good quality (day-5) blastocyst. The ASRM guidelines allow either choice. Yet, many clinics are still transferring two blastocysts, with predictably high twin rates. So, what’s wrong with that?
The problem with twins is that they have a 50% chance of being born prematurely. As a result, they have higher rates of cerebral palsy and other complications of prematurity. The combined medical costs from IVF twins due to ICU care and life-long complications from prematurity are easily in the billions of dollars. Furthermore, from conception to delivery, there is a reduced chance of actually delivering two live babies. Even when twins are born close to term and are healthy, there are considerable financial and emotional costs associated with them.
With appropriate statistical analysis, it may be possible to demonstrate that the chance of a live birth is the same after the transfer of one blastocyst compared to the transfer of two embryos.
While twins may seem cute and a bargain at first, patients undergoing egg donation should inform themselves of the risks of twins and discuss the potential merits of single embryo transfer (SET) with their physician.
- Michael Feinman, MD
Medical Director, HRC Fertility
Huntington Reproductive Center Medical Group
feinmanivf@havingbabies.com
Tags: American Society of Reproductive Medicine, ASRM, ASRM guidelines, Beverly Hills Egg Donation, BHED, blastocyst, day-5 blastocyst, Dr. Michael Feinman, egg donation, egg donation success rates, egg donor, egg donor cycle, HRC, Huntington Reproductive Center, IVF, multiple pregnancies, multiples, reproductive endocrinologist, SET, single embryo transfer, twins
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Friday, October 2nd, 2009
When choosing an egg donor, it is understandable that women will want to select a donor who is similar to themselves in appearance and ethnic background. As with many aspects of Jewish Law, what may seem obvious and desirable may not conform to rabbinical interpretations of the Law. Ironically, since it is sometimes difficult to find suitable Jewish donors, these legal twists can actually help some people “let go” of their desire to work only with Jewish donors.
There are three concerns that rabbis have addressed in their discussions regarding the selection of egg donors. The first is accidental incest. The second is the legal status of a woman’s eggs. The third, and possibly the most important to recipients, is the Jewish status of the children born through egg donation.
Reasonable concerns exist that due to the anonymity of most egg donation arrangements, the actual children of the donor could accidentally marry the offspring of the woman who received her eggs. Sounds far-fetched, but rabbis worry about such things.
As to the status of the eggs, rabbis have agreed that according to Jewish Law, a husband has a legal attachment to his wife’s eggs. In theory, according to Jewish Law, the resulting offspring could have a claim on the donor’s husband in a Jewish court of law.
While Reform Judaism recognizes that parentage can come from either parent, traditionally most, but not all, rabbis have agreed that if a Jewish woman gives birth to the baby, that child is fully Jewish. The Laws determining a child’s family and religion of origin were established thousands of years ago – long before genetic testing – and so Jewishness is passed from the mother who gives birth rather than from the genetic parents.
Based on these three considerations, the following principles can guide most Jewish couples considering egg donation:
A Jewish donor is not legally required for a Jewish couple. Based on the concerns about accidental incest and the legal status of eggs, a non-Jewish donor may actually be preferable. Accepting this idea can alleviate much of the angst over trying to find a Jewish donor which can be difficult.
If a Jewish woman is chosen, she should be single or married to a non-Jewish man. If she is divorced, she needs a Jewish divorce, including a “Get.”
The process of choosing an egg donor is different for every family. There are an endless number of things to consider in making such an important decision. If observing Jewish Law is a priority for the Intended Parent(s), then finding a Jewish donor is not only unnecessary, but potentially undesirable. Ideally, this will be helpful to some as the pool of potential donors will be enlarged significantly.
- Michael Feinman, MD
Medical Director, HRC Fertility
Huntington Reproductive Center Medical Group
feinmanivf@havingbabies.com
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, BHED, Dr. Michael Feinman, egg donation, egg donor, egg donor cycle, HRC, Huntington Reproductive Center, IVF, Jewish egg donor, jewish law and egg donation
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Monday, September 28th, 2009
If you’re registered as an egg donor, getting a new tattoo becomes a decision that can have a much bigger affect than you’d ever anticipated. For a potential recipient who has spent weeks pouring over donor profiles (and sometimes thousands of dollars on previous failed IVF cycles), only to fall in love with their perfect match, news that their ideal donor has gotten a tattoo from an unlicensed facility can be devastating.
 All of this can be avoided if you keep in mind that potential donors cannot donate their eggs if they’ve had a tattoo or body piercing within the past six months to a year – typically six months for a piercing and one year for a tattoo. The only exception to this rule is if you can provide written and signed proof that your tattoo or piercing was administered at a state-regulated facility, using a sterile technique. Even then, however, some doctors will still require that donors wait eight weeks before donating – one clinic still requires donors to wait the full 12 months! To make things even more complicated, the official regulations vary from state to state, and only 32 states even have such regulations. If you choose to have your tattoo or piercing administered in a state that does not enforce regulations, you can be sure that you’ll be in for an extremely long wait before you’re finally able to donate.
If you’re serious about wanting to donate and help a family in need, Beverly Hills Egg Donation recommends that you hold off on any plans for a new tattoo or piercing until after you’ve completed your donation cycle(s).
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, BHED, egg donation, egg donation and tattoos, egg donor, egg donor cycle
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Friday, September 25th, 2009
You know when you get something new…you go home and hang it up/lay it out/try it on/unpack it/reorganize it, and it just makes you all happy and fulfilled? Like, when you go to Target and come home with $300 worth of things you don’t need (but might need one day way, way in the future) and you put them all in your cabinets and bathroom and kitchen like back stock in a stockroom, and there’s this strange overwhelming sense of pride and satisfaction that only you can appreciate? Because, it’s not like you bought new shoes – it’s toilet paper and Ziploc sandwich bags.
The start of a cycle is like that for me, but taken to a new level…because my stockroom has things that no one else I know will ever have. I have drugs in vials that need to be mixed. I have syringes and needles. I have a biohazard receptacle! And when I get home from work and the Fed Ex box with the cooler of medication is sitting on my stoop, my blood pressure rises and my heart races…project! I always arrange my supplies in my kitchen before a cycle, including wrapping the ugly burgundy biohazard container up in paper (I mean, who has a burgundy color scheme?).
I think it’s safe for me to admit that I am afflicted with situational OCD, and it manifests at times like this. I embrace it. And, OCD or not, I think you’ll find that setting up your supplies as if they were ingredients for a chocolate chip cookie recipe makes the fact that you are about to inject a needle into your stomach just a little easier to digest.
-Kate, BHED Donor
Tags: donation cycle, egg donation, egg donation california, egg donation los angeles, egg donor, egg donor cycle, egg donor los angeles
Posted in From the egg donor's perspective | No Comments »
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
Once you’ve reached the end of the application process and had a successful interview with a member of our donor team, our staff will add your profile to our database of donors for recipients to peruse.
Congratulations, you’re now an active donor with BHED (Beverly Hills Egg Donation)!
There can be quite a lot to do leading up to this point – gathering pictures and transcripts, doing your own research on the donation process, putting together information on your family’s medical history, and scheduling your interview – that it may seem like the flurry of activity tapers off slightly after you’ve finally been made active. One of the questions we get a lot is, “how long will it take for me to be matched?” To tell the truth, there’s no way of knowing. Some egg donors are matched within a matter of days, and for others it takes longer – sometimes even weeks or months. It’s really all a matter of the right recipient coming across your profile at the right time, and for some donors, that doesn’t happen right away.
The most important thing to do during this time is to make sure to keep your profile accurate and up-to-date. Review your profile occasionally and contact us with any changes in contact info, updates/successes in school or work, or new information regarding your medical history. Also, we always love to have new pictures to add to your profile so feel free to keep them coming! We store the extras on our server in case a potential recipient requests to see them.
Another big thing to keep in mind while you’re waiting to be matched is to make sure you’re easy to get in touch with. Sometimes a recipient has a couple of donors they’re interested in, and wants to make a decision quickly, so make sure to respond to any phone calls or emails that you get from us as promptly as possible. You’ll also receive a phone call from our team every three months to confirm your availability.
Finally, a great thing to do after you’ve been activated is come to one of our photo shoots! We hold these shoots every 4-6 weeks in West LA. It’s a wonderful way to get beautiful, professional photos to enhance your profile and it’s totally free to you. It takes just 15 minutes of your time, and you get a high-resolution jpeg of your favorite shot to keep.
Of course, you can feel free to contact us at any time with questions or to see if there’s been interest in your profile.
We look forward to seeing you matched!
Tags: egg donation, egg donation california, egg donation los angeles, egg donation process, egg donor, egg donor los angeles, egg donors
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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Many women feel as if they have tried everything: monitoring cycles through body temperature, over-the-counter fertility predictors, fertility-enhancing drugs and in vitro fertilization. After many attempts at becoming pregnant, it makes sense that the frustration can become more than a difficult issue physically, but also emotionally.
Thousands of women each year are now seeking the help of egg donor agencies such as Beverly Hills Egg Donation. When fertility treatments are unsuccessful, many women are told “no” [about having children] because of their age. But with the use of an egg donor and the added help of chiropractic, there may still be plenty of reason for hope. At least one study showed that, after receiving chiropractic care, previously infertile women were much more likely to become pregnant (Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, 2003). And while reasons behind chiropractic’s success in treating women who have difficulty becoming pregnant aren’t certain, there are a number of possibilities why it may work.
Chiropractors believe proper alignment works in several ways to increase the likelihood of becoming and staying pregnant. Chiefly, improper alignment of the cranial, spinal, and pelvic bones can hinder the nervous system, which controls a woman’s reproductive system, causing imbalances and hampering her ability to get and stay pregnant.
Many of the patients Dr. Matthew Gloin, D.C. sees for infertility have tried everything. They come to chiropractic to help prepare the body’s nervous system for the upcoming egg donor cycle. Dr. Gloin first talks to them about their menstrual health history, noting signs of imbalance, which have often been problematic since the onset of menstruation, including heavy cramping, mood swings, and missing periods. ”We balance the body [through chiropractic],” says Dr. Gloin. Patients receive a combination of chiropractic adjustments, three times a week to start. After adjustments start to hold, patients visit once or twice a week.
How long should chiropractic take to work? Not long, says Dr. Gloin. ”We give it three months. Often women will become pregnant following egg donation not only because of their fertility experts, but because their nervous systems are functioning at full capacity through chiropractic.” Unless there have been serious compromises to reproductive health, he says, such as a history of extreme athletic activity or substance abuse, chiropractic may set the stage for a successful pregnancy.
-Dr. Matthew Gloin, D.C.
Tags: Chiropractic, egg donation, egg donation agency, egg donor agency
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Friday, March 20th, 2009
Often, egg donors inquire about egg donation and expect that they will be donating just one of their eggs to an infertile couple. It just doesn’t work that way. When an egg donor is matched with a recipient, they are contracted to donate the eggs that they produce in a particular menstrual cycle. During that cycle, the physician that they are seeing intentionally increases the number of eggs that are produced. While a “normal” woman might release one or two eggs a month, those numbers would be cause to cancel an egg donor cycle prior to the retrieval.
The number of eggs produced and donated in an egg donor cycle can range from about 8 to as many as 40 (although that is very, very rare). The average cycle results in a retrieval of between 15 and 20 eggs. The eggs are fertilized after retrieval, and often not all of them will successfully fertilize and develop. About 12 to 14 healthy embryos generally result from 20 eggs. Some of these embryos (possibly 2) will be transferred to the recipient or a gestational carrier, and the remainder frozen for future use.
We always encourage any questions a prospective donor might have. Please refer to our main site for more information about becoming a donor and feel free to contact us for more information.
-Ellie Klein, BHED Cycle Coordinator
Tags: egg donation, egg donor, number of eggs
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
In terms of how much to compensate an egg donor, the ASRM report specifically states that payments to donors “should be fair and not so substantial that they become undue inducements that will lead the donors to discount risks.” This is a point that I feel cannot be stressed enough. Any donor assumes certain risks – medical, emotional, and even financial, and being a donor is a huge responsibility. They spend hours being screened, filling out health history information, going to appointments, and undergoing the retrieval procedure. We want to make sure that the donor is not so enamored by the compensation that she will receive that she doesn’t fully assess the risks and responsibilities that go hand in hand with participating in a donor cycle.
The report goes on to state that while there is no consensus on the exact amount of compensation a donor should receive that “sums of $5,000 or more require justification and sums above $10,000 are not appropriate.” I believe that anytime one sees an advertisement promising more than these recommended amounts, or anytime a donor requests a fee in excess of these amounts, one should proceed with caution. Additionally, there are many clinics and physicians that will not work with a donor requesting a fee higher than the ASRM suggested guidelines. The ASRM report makes it clear that programs (agencies) recruiting donors and anyone assisting a recipient that has recruited their own donor should establish a compensation structure that “minimizes the possibility of undue inducement of donors and the suggestion that payment is for the [eggs] themselves.”
 This can lead to the following issue that I am constantly debating with friends and colleagues: if these guidelines exist, why are some donors offered twelve, fifteen, or twenty thousand dollars (or more) for their donations? If you have an “elite” fee or an “elite” program, where fees are higher based on education, talent, appearance, or IQ and test scores, aren’t you in fact paying for “superior” eggs? And doesn’t that completely contradict what the ASRM report has stated? If the ASRM guidelines are all we in this industry have to go by, I think that anyone in the field owes it to the integrity of the field in general, and the the individuals involved specifically, to maintain the guidelines to the best of their ability.
-Kate Lyon, Attorney at Law
Tags: egg donation, egg donation compensation, egg donor compensation, egg donors, Financial Compensation of Oocyte Donors, Oocyte Donation, Ova donation
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Monday, March 2nd, 2009
 Egg / Ova / Oocyte Donation* offers a viable option to women who have been told that they cannot or should not attempt to achieve a pregnancy using their own egg(s). This can be, and generally is, an extremely emotional step for any individual or couple to take. It is also one that can be costly. With the current state of our economy, the expenses related to any infertility treatment are being more closely examined by those that find themselves in need of such treatment, and the compensation provided to donors is just one of these expenses to consider. With more young women applying to become donors, because of the financial incentive that does exist, many of us in the field (and those that are thrust into this world because of their own fertility situation) are constantly wondering “how much is too much?”
As an attorney in the field, I take very seriously the responsibility of ensuring that the Egg Donation Agreements that donors and recipients (or “Intended Parents”) enter into are drafted appropriately, taking into consideration the standard of the industry and the guidelines that are available. It is especially important to make clear not only the exact compensation the donor is going to receive, but what exactly the donor is being compensated for.
While in California, that state in which I practice, there are no laws that specifically deal with egg donation or compensation, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine has published a report that deals specifically with the financial compensation of egg donors. (”ASRM Ethics Committee Report: Financial Compensation of Oocyte Donors,” Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 88, No. 2, August 2007). The report makes clear what many of us in the field so strongly believe: that compensation to egg donors is justified on ethical grounds, but care needs to be taken with the explanation and delineation of the structure of the compensation, as well as the amount of compensation. Both donors and recipients need to clearly understand that the donor is receiving compensation for the time, inconvenience and discomfort associated with the entire egg donation process: from the screenings required before a donor can begin medication, to the actual cycle obligations (which includes taking various hormone medications), and then the retrieval procedure.
Compensation should never be dependent upon a certain number of eggs being retrieved or upon the quality of eggs being retrieved (which can, by extension, also mean that the fertilization rate of such eggs or whether or not a pregnancy is achieved from the donation should not be considered when structuring compensation). The ASRM report even goes on to state that compensation should not vary based on the number or outcome of prior donation cycles or the ethnic or other qualifications/characteristics of the donor.
*In the assisted reproductive technology (”ART”) industry, professionals use several terms when discussing oocyte, or “egg” donation. For purposes of uniformity, the term “egg” and/or “eggs” will be used in this entry.
-Kate Lyon, Attorney at Law
Tags: egg donation, egg donation compensation, egg donor compensation, egg donors, Financial Compensation of Oocyte Donors, Oocyte Donation, Ova donation
Posted in Advice From Our Colleagues | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
I went to FPNC today at 9:00AM for the first ultrasound, and Dr. Abusief showed me on the TV screen that there are two babies growing, each with a nice heartbeat and a “diamond ring” which means something like the cells are growing very well. When she started, she immediately said that she could see “two sacks”, but I had no idea what that meant. Then, she spent five minutes showing me the heartbeat in one of the sacks but not being about to find the heartbeat in the other. This was a touch five minutes, with her saying things like, “this is normal…sometimes it just takes some time for the other one to start growing…” Then, Dr. Abusief finally was able to see the other heartbeat, and we all saw it really clearly. It had been over at one side. Dr. Abusief was very happy with everything she saw, and said that the risk now of a “problem” is down to 15%. We’ll go back in two weeks for another ultrasound, and will know at that point if Baby A and Baby B are boys, girls, or one of each.
I’ve got a print-out of photos of both Baby A and Baby B.
I am so happy!!! I cried until my makeup ran down my face and I had to get back to work.
Thanks everyone for your help and support, especially to Lisa and Ellie from Beverly Hills Egg Donation for being such great advocates for us.
This has been a long and miserable journey for Adam and me, and hopefully we’ll now have the joy of parenthood.
-Valerie, Recipient
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, egg donation, egg donor
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