Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 2:59 am
The UK’s first clinic that stands alone in that is solely focused on getting new sperm donors has opened as a merger of two sperm banks the Louis Hughes Sperm bank and the London Women’s Clinic bank. The new partnership will be called the London Sperm Bank which is fully licensed by the fertility watchdog organization the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
Dr. Kamal Ahuja, the scientific director of the LSB, stated that the new partnership will offer revived hope for the many women who otherwise may have trouble receiving fertility treatment due to a shortage of proper donor sperm.
The goal of the LSB is to extend its stock of available sperm vials up to 10,000 so that women will have both a wider choice when seeking donors and a speedier service overall.
At the present the LSB will serve all of the London’s Women’s Clinics but hopes to broaden its audience to other properly licensed fertility clinics throughout the UK by the year 2011.
According to the LSB website, the goal of the institution is to give all UK women the best choices among donors without worrying about spending money to travel abroad. Additionally, the website said that the LSB is supportive of the anxiety of the HFEA of women taking a chance by getting sperm from unlicensed sources.
One reasons for the current shortage of sperm donors may be the fact that donor anonymity was removed back in 2005 and the new right that children conceived using donor sperm may now request the information of the donor when they reach age 18.
Filed under: IVF — Alan @ 8:00 am
A new report shows that there are possibly many mistakes being made at IVF clinics, however, the report is inconclusive since there is no solid evidence.
Government inspectors issued a warning about IVF’s, in that patients are not protected against mistakes, which led the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to admit that there are ways that the clinics could improve.
However, the organization claims that they have made strides forward to fix the problems which will either be proved or discounted next week when the report concerning the embryo mix-up at the London Guys and St. Thomas Hospital is published.
The report will also test to see if clinics are regulated fairly by the HFEA which is another criticism that IVF clinics are facing from government inspectors.
The mix-up that led to the investigation occurred in February when three women had to have their embryos destroyed because they were fertilized with the sperm of the wrong men. The mistakes echoed the earlier mistakes of a clinic in Leeds which resulted in a white couple giving birth to a multi-race child.
The HFEA will not comment on either set of mistakes until the investigation report is released. A licence committee is due to meet on Monday to discuss what happened and where the mistake lay so that the same mistake can be prevented in the future.
Although the watchdog organization for IVF clinics claims that such incidents are still extremely rare a patient safety expert and a leading fertility lawyer warn that there could be more mistakes that are not reported.
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 7:42 am
One of the top fertility clinics in Britain suffered a health scare Sunday night after it was discovered that unsafe and unscreened donor sperm was used to produce test tube babies.
The sperm was found to have a genetic abnormality in it that would raise the risk of having a child with health problems or a miscarriage.
The health scare occurred at the Harley Street London Women’s Clinic, which failed to follow fertility guidelines that all sperm be screened before it is used.
As a result of the mistake, which occurred earlier in 2009, at least one couple is thought to have had a miscarriage.
The patient anonymously stated to the press that the occurrence has left behind a ‘bitter taste.’
The couple was forced to destroy 22 embryos that were fertilized with the sperm after paying £15,000 initially for the treatment. The clinic paid the couple to have another round of the fertility treatment completed overseas.
It is estimated that up to 11 women may have had their embryos created with the unsafe sperm.
The HFEA confirmed that the LWC was the site of the blunder and stated that after the discovery the clinic was forced to cease its use of donor sperm until all stored samples were checked.
