62 Year-old British Woman Becomes Mother

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Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 08 Jul 2006 - 10:00 PDT

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Dr. Patricia Rashbrook, 62, a psychiatrist, has become the oldest women in the UK to give birth. She had a baby boy who weighed 6lbs 10oz. Her husband, John Farrant, 60, says they are both doing well.

This birth has come amid controversy in the United Kingdom. Some say that a person in Dr. Rashbrook's financial position is well placed to bring up a child in a comfortable, loving environment. Others say that having a child at such an age is a selfish act and that the child will eventually pay the price.

Dr. Rashbrook, who already has three children, aged 26, 22 and 18, went to Russia for her fertility treatment, which was carried out by Dr. Severino Antinori, an Italian fertility expert. All her adult children were from her first marriage. The baby boy, known as JJ, was conceived through IVF. A donor egg was used. The whole process, which was successful after the fifth attempt, cost £10,000 ($18,200).

This birth means Rashbrook's present husband is a father for the first time.

Several health care professionals feel Dr. Rashbrook is too old to have a baby. Many point out that she will be 80 years' old when the boy completes his A-levels (Senior High School), she will be 78 when he completes his GCSEs (Junior High School). The risk of developing some disabling or fatal disease significantly grows for Dr. Rashbrook each year from now on, compared to a mother who gave birth in her twenties, thirties or forties.

According to an interview Dr. Rashbrook had with The Daily Mail, having the baby was the right thing to do. She says she does not feel too old to give birth and bring up a child. Had she thought they would not be good enough parents they would never have considered this. She says she and her husband are extremely healthy and have always felt and looked very young. They have friends who will act as surrogate parents should their present health and vigour change. Dr. Rashbrook stressed that for a child, what matters more than age, is meeting his/her needs - and she is confident of doing that.

According to her husband, they have received 200 letters of support and one unsigned letter that expressed the opposite. They have not decided on a name for the boy yet - for the moment he is called JJ.

JJ was delivered by casesarean section at Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, Sussex, UK.

The world record for giving birth is 66, by a Romanian woman called Adriana Iliescu. She had a baby girl.

We have had several emails on this matter, some in favour and some against. Here are some quotes:

"I was brought up by my grandparents when my mother and father died. I had a lovely childhood and could not have asked for more."

"How will the child feel when he is picked up at school by a very old mother or father?"

"Will the boy be teased at school?"

"Unlike millions of children in the world, this child will not suffer the hardships of poverty."

"If a drug addict in her twenties can become a single mother, why shouldn't a well-to-do 62 year-old married woman?"

"This child will probably receive much more love than I ever did. My parents were 21 and 22 when I was born. They used to beat me all the time."

"If her body refused IVF treatment four times, shouldn't she have taken that as a message from nature?"

"Most likely, the boy's children will never know their paternal grandparents."

"It is highly unlikely this boy will become a menace to society as a result of having elderly parents. Most likely, he will become well balanced and productive as an adult."

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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