Fertility treatment babies have heightened risk of disabilities
October 11th, 2009
From the New York Times:
An increasing number of American babies are being conceived with the help of the fertility industry — at a cost. Experts say these children are disproportionately likely to be twins, and are at a heightened risk for disabilities including mental impairments, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, and eye and ear impairments. An estimated 30 percent of twins end up in the neonatal intensive care unit, according to one government study.
Fertility industry leaders and government health officials have called on doctors to avoid the risk of twins, but doctors say strong financial incentives encourage them to implant multiple embryos. Further, they say, couples do not fully understand the risks.
A recent study by the March of Dimes said fertility treatments are one of the main reasons the nation has seen a 36 percent increase in prematurity in the last 25 years. The nation’s overall prematurity rate is 12.7 percent, which is regarded as a major national health care problem. The government estimates that the care of premature infants costs $26 billion a year.
(New York Times photo of Carter Hare at just over 24 weeks. He weighed one pound, 12 ounces.)
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October 11th, 2009 at 7:36 am
An acquaintance of mine gave birth to twins last year, following IVF. They were premature and one of the twins died several months after birth, having never been able to leave intensive care during his short life.
The medical establishment’s ethical standards are illogical: while a scorched-earth policy is pursued to prevent the birth of babies with Down Syndrome, they are creating people with disabilities potentially far more debilitating than Down’s.
Playing God: what a conundrum.