Wall Street Journal Examines Persistent Multiple Births After IVF As Doctors Ignore Guidelines

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 10 Oct 2005 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The Wall Street Journal on Friday examined the persistent trend of multiple births as a result of in vitro fertilization, despite guidelines urging doctors not to implant too many embryos into the uterus. According to studies, 30% to 40% of pregnancies in the U.S. with three or more births occur because physicians implant more than the recommended number of embryos during IVF. Multiple births are linked to a greater risk of premature birth, low birthweight and complications such as cerebral palsy, as well as increased risks to the women, including pregnancy-related high blood pressure and postpartum depression. A number of European countries, including the U.K., Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, have banned the implantation of more than three embryos in the womb, but the U.S. only offers a voluntary guide, which many doctors do not choose to follow, the Journal reports. Some doctors say they implant multiple embryos if a woman's embryos are inferior; others cite competition with other clinics for high success rates, which often are listed on their Web sites; and some say patients put "a tremendous amount of pressure" on them to perform successful IVF (Pagán Westphal, Wall Street Journal, 10/7).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations