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Fertility, IVF story, ethics & donor eggs
HI, I 'm 38 recently went through 2 rounds of IVF with donor egg, I went to a popular hospital based clinic of course since I was over 35 they recommeded donor eggs with thier in house donor program.
The clinic just started offering egg donors but there were only a few ladies in the program. I was not given the option to choose a donor through another agency.I choose the donor and challegend the donor fee of $5000 on a first time donor in my area 1st time donors usually get 1500-3000 for a first donation.( not all donors produce eggs) I told the clinic I was not comfortable paying such a high price on a unnproven donor. They claimed it was their policy, I asked if the donor fails do I loss any of my money. of course they said no I would get a refund of the donor portion of my contracted fee. Well the clinic donor producd 1 egg after 3days on med's so they cancelled that cycle. I was refunded the donor portion of my fee and then was offered a different donor agency. I found a great 21 year old proven donor for around the same fee she had donated before 4 times. My RE fertility specialist really didn't want to use her. they gave her a hard time the office staff was rude, making my donor wait for 30-45minutes for some appointment. My doctor claimed she had a ovarian cyst and it need to be evaluated by her normal ob/gyn. She did see her doctor and it was a normal follicular cyst of no concern. her doctor okayed egg donation. My donor went back to my fertility clinic proceeded with the donation process, they harvasted 38 eggs 32 fertilized to 5 day blastocyst all we consider good quality. I was implanted with 3 embryos (I wanted to use 4)
at two week pregnancy test I had a very low beta hcg at 69 then at week 4 in was 960 it was consider very low which the doctor believed was a chemical pregnancy. I went off the progestrone supplement my cycle started but at 9wk blood work my beta hcg were still creeping up. My second transfer was done 2 months after the 1st and had 2 embryos implanted. but it failed ( I knew right away it failed) I went back to sechedule my next frozen tranfer and was told that I didn't have any more embryos left. I was quite shocked I claimed there was some mistake I have 26 embryos frozen
I was then told that the embryos don't freeze well and after the last transfer they were all thawed none were viable. I still believe my embroyos were either mixed up of just flat out sold to someone.
else. Prior to 2nd tranfer my doctor assured me that I had quite a few embryos for at least 3 more transfers. No one ever informed me of any problems with the condition of my frozen embroys I was never told that My embroyos might not be viable after freezing. I didn't get a meeting with the embryolgist. I did speak to the embryologis on at the orginal fresh transfer. He told me that my egg donor was great,She made so many beautiful eggs He said so far 38 eggs was the record for him in one donor,. He told me they fertlized well he made no mention of having to use ICSI or any assisted hatching. I was asked to sign a waiver form that was blank in my chart . I told them no way I would sign a blank form or any consent forms after the fact.
My doctor was willing to give me a price break on the next IVF and willing to supply free fertility medication for my donor. She did make a good offer.
But how could I trust them again?? I feel with these fertility procedures we have little to no control over our embryo's fresh or frozen. How do we know that are embryos aren't sold to other couples, When you use donor eggs and or donor sperm we have no biological connection to the offspring there is no way to prove later that some of the embroys were used in other couples.
Does anyone else ever have concerns, Did anyone else experience loss in frozen embryos. Has anyone been treated for pregnancy immune responce.??
I am just a bit stressed on jumping back in to IVF ....
Sher
The clinic just started offering egg donors but there were only a few ladies in the program. I was not given the option to choose a donor through another agency.I choose the donor and challegend the donor fee of $5000 on a first time donor in my area 1st time donors usually get 1500-3000 for a first donation.( not all donors produce eggs) I told the clinic I was not comfortable paying such a high price on a unnproven donor. They claimed it was their policy, I asked if the donor fails do I loss any of my money. of course they said no I would get a refund of the donor portion of my contracted fee. Well the clinic donor producd 1 egg after 3days on med's so they cancelled that cycle. I was refunded the donor portion of my fee and then was offered a different donor agency. I found a great 21 year old proven donor for around the same fee she had donated before 4 times. My RE fertility specialist really didn't want to use her. they gave her a hard time the office staff was rude, making my donor wait for 30-45minutes for some appointment. My doctor claimed she had a ovarian cyst and it need to be evaluated by her normal ob/gyn. She did see her doctor and it was a normal follicular cyst of no concern. her doctor okayed egg donation. My donor went back to my fertility clinic proceeded with the donation process, they harvasted 38 eggs 32 fertilized to 5 day blastocyst all we consider good quality. I was implanted with 3 embryos (I wanted to use 4)
at two week pregnancy test I had a very low beta hcg at 69 then at week 4 in was 960 it was consider very low which the doctor believed was a chemical pregnancy. I went off the progestrone supplement my cycle started but at 9wk blood work my beta hcg were still creeping up. My second transfer was done 2 months after the 1st and had 2 embryos implanted. but it failed ( I knew right away it failed) I went back to sechedule my next frozen tranfer and was told that I didn't have any more embryos left. I was quite shocked I claimed there was some mistake I have 26 embryos frozen
I was then told that the embryos don't freeze well and after the last transfer they were all thawed none were viable. I still believe my embroyos were either mixed up of just flat out sold to someone.
else. Prior to 2nd tranfer my doctor assured me that I had quite a few embryos for at least 3 more transfers. No one ever informed me of any problems with the condition of my frozen embroys I was never told that My embroyos might not be viable after freezing. I didn't get a meeting with the embryolgist. I did speak to the embryologis on at the orginal fresh transfer. He told me that my egg donor was great,She made so many beautiful eggs He said so far 38 eggs was the record for him in one donor,. He told me they fertlized well he made no mention of having to use ICSI or any assisted hatching. I was asked to sign a waiver form that was blank in my chart . I told them no way I would sign a blank form or any consent forms after the fact.
My doctor was willing to give me a price break on the next IVF and willing to supply free fertility medication for my donor. She did make a good offer.
But how could I trust them again?? I feel with these fertility procedures we have little to no control over our embryo's fresh or frozen. How do we know that are embryos aren't sold to other couples, When you use donor eggs and or donor sperm we have no biological connection to the offspring there is no way to prove later that some of the embroys were used in other couples.
Does anyone else ever have concerns, Did anyone else experience loss in frozen embryos. Has anyone been treated for pregnancy immune responce.??
I am just a bit stressed on jumping back in to IVF ....
Sher
I've never heard of 26 embryos being frozen from one retrieval That being said, I think it's heinous that the embryologist didn't meet w/you in person to give you anymore info or answer any questions that you possible had. I know for me some time after the transfer, I got a letter from my embryologist telling me how many embies were frozen. They also told me that if I were to do a FET, only 70% of the embies usually survive the thawing out process.
Did you have follow-up consultations w/your re after your cycles? If you have any doubts and it sounds like you do, I would change clinics or at least get a 2nd opinion. I'm so sorry that you're having to go through all of this on top of dealing w/another IVF. I hope you get your BFP soon!!
Did you have follow-up consultations w/your re after your cycles? If you have any doubts and it sounds like you do, I would change clinics or at least get a 2nd opinion. I'm so sorry that you're having to go through all of this on top of dealing w/another IVF. I hope you get your BFP soon!!
omg;what an experience.i agree 150% with evertbody.i don't think you should go back to that clinic.these fertility clinics in california are really weird.the nurses are rude and they don't even call to follow-up.can you believe i'm supposed to be having surgery next week and they haven't even called me to tell me the hosp and give me some pre-op infors?this is going to be my first ivf and the whole process is dragging.where exactly in california are you located.i hope we're not seing the same re
my heeart goes out to you
my heeart goes out to you
oh god - i am so sorry this happened to you. how horrible. as if going through fertility treatments wasnt bad enough and now you cannot even trust the clinic. my heart goes out to you. hugs.
I am so sorry that you have to go through all of these on top of a stressful IVF procedure. didn't it make you mad that you have no control over this? you can only rely on the Dr and hospital to do the right thing and if it turned out that is not the case, you are the only victim. I completely feel your frustration. can you post the name of the clinic if you don't mind?
Hang in there.
Hang in there.
When reading your post, I was getting sick to my stomach. Honestly, I do not think you should continue at this particular clinic. It sounds to me like they are extremely dishonest and looking out for their best interest only which is to make as much money as they can as quick as they can. I just can't believe that. That is scary. Those embryos were yours. It is un just that all of the sudden you can't use them, they are no good anymore, this makes no sense. Especially when they did not forewarn you of this happening and were telling you how great the eggs are. As sad and terrible as it is it does sound like they sold the other embryos.
You poor thing. As if this wasn't stressful enough as it is. You need to post something about this clinic, they need to be recognized for what they actually are. They did you wrong and should be held accountable in some way even if it's just telling everyone you possibly can about your experience and the name and location of this clinic.
I am so terribly sorry this happened.
You poor thing. As if this wasn't stressful enough as it is. You need to post something about this clinic, they need to be recognized for what they actually are. They did you wrong and should be held accountable in some way even if it's just telling everyone you possibly can about your experience and the name and location of this clinic.
I am so terribly sorry this happened.
Hi Sher,
I was horror-struck when I read your post!! This is such a horrendous thing to happen. I have not been through the experience of donor-eggs, but obviously your clinic looks extremely shady to me. The whole operation seems to be operating in a highly UNETHICAL way. I fervently hope you will not use this clinic again for your future IVF attempts.
I had the same suspicion as you, they might have sold off your embryos to another couple perhaps? Going through IVF is stressful enough, without having to deal with unethical and greedy clinics.
I have a sincere request to you. Please reveal the name of the clinic you went to. Which City/State is it in? It will be very helpful to all the women on this forum. I do hope you get answers for all your questions. My thoughts are with you.
Best,
Julie
I was horror-struck when I read your post!! This is such a horrendous thing to happen. I have not been through the experience of donor-eggs, but obviously your clinic looks extremely shady to me. The whole operation seems to be operating in a highly UNETHICAL way. I fervently hope you will not use this clinic again for your future IVF attempts.
I had the same suspicion as you, they might have sold off your embryos to another couple perhaps? Going through IVF is stressful enough, without having to deal with unethical and greedy clinics.
I have a sincere request to you. Please reveal the name of the clinic you went to. Which City/State is it in? It will be very helpful to all the women on this forum. I do hope you get answers for all your questions. My thoughts are with you.
Best,
Julie
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