PostScript
Letter
Should fertility doctors and clinical embryologists be involved in the recruitment, counselling and reimbursement of egg donors?
Correspondence to:
Dr B C Heng, National University of Singapore, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, 119074 Singapore; denhenga@nus.edu.sg
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
An ethical issue that has largely been overlooked and neglected is the potential conflict of interests faced by medical professionals in the recruitment, counselling and reimbursement of egg donors. It must be noted that fertility treatment in private practice is an overwhelmingly profit-driven enterprise. To attract more patients and generate more income, there is a strong incentive for fertility clinics and doctors to actively and aggressively recruit women for their egg donation programme. In some countries where substantial financial remuneration for egg donation is permitted—for example, the United States,1 2 fertility doctors and clinical embryologists often act as the "middleman" or broker to facilitate the transaction of eggs between donor and recipient. Very often, the usual practice is for fertility clinics to charge patients a commission for sourcing egg donors, which is an additional profit on top of substantial medical fees that would be earned from provision of fertility treatment
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