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

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