Posts Tagged ‘IVF In The News’

In the News

Monday, January 15th, 2007

While trolling around on the web this morning, I found a couple of infertility-related news articles that were pretty interesting.

The first, it looks as though scientists are persuing research to conduct a uterus transplant. This would be performed on women who have lost their womb for a variety of reasons, including birth defects or surgery. How progressive is that?! Women who had no alternative but surrogacy could possible carry their own babies. I think it’s brilliant, as is their plan. The uterus would be taken from a deceased donor and placed in the woman. She would have to live with it for three months without any complications. They would then implant previously frozen embryos. After the delivery, or two years, the uterus would be removed, so that the woman wouldn’t have to stay on anti-rejection meds her entire life. I say brilliant again! You can read the full story here.

Next, the world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, is now a mommy herself!! She gave birth to a little boy in December. How wonderful for her and her husband. You can read about it here.

Fact vs. Fiction

Monday, November 6th, 2006

Yes, we’re still here. We’re still alive and still trying to save and earn our IVF money. I can’t tell you how totally shocked I am that a month has passed since I last posted. I’m equally shocked that October came and went about as fast as a pizza does in this house. Please accept my apology for leaving everyone out there just hanging.

Since the start of the fall TV season, I’ve become quite a fan of the new show Brothers & Sisters. It follows Desperate Housewives Sundays on ABC. We don’t watch a terrible amount of TV, it’s something we try hard to limit. That’s why we’re cheap and pay for the $12/mo cable!

If you don’t follow the show, it’s about a large, close-knit family in LA who recently lost the father (Tom Skerritt). The mom (Sally Field) manages to keep the family together, all adult children who have a variety of successful careers, some married, one couple with children. A few of the kids work to manage the family’s fruit business which their father left in a huge financial mess. That’s the short and sweet of it, just to give some background.

One of the siblings/couples, Tommy and his wife Julia, have been trying to conceive for sometime. They are probably in their late 20s to early 30s. A cute, successful, fun-loving couple. In last week’s episode, they show Tommy visiting his doctor and getting the results of a sperm sample he gave. He went in on his own, unbeknownst to his wife, to find out if there was a problem. The doctor reveals that Tommy’s sperm count was zero and that he is sterile. Tommy is of course devestated. By the end of the show he tells his wife who proclaims that she doesn’t care, it’s not his fault and that with or without children she’ll always love him. This is really similar to the reaction I had. By the way, I’m totally bawling my eyes out during this entire episode.

The episode that aired last night shows them visiting a sperm bank to get donor sperm. Tommy freaks out about having someone else’s sperm inside Julia and says that he wants a baby that is from his blood… as we all do. The show moves on to show him asking his brother, Kevin, if he would be willing to donate. I start bawling, again! (We received an email from a reader who told us that after many years of unsuccessful attempts, his wife’s sister donated an egg. They now have a beautiful little boy!!) By the end of the show, Kevin and another brother, Justin, both donate sperm and everyone agrees to keep it confidential so no one will ever know who the bio-dad is.

I like the story line and I’m so glad that they’ve brought the subject of infertilty into mainstream, primetime television. It’s an issue that can always use as much attention as it can get. My only frustration is how far from the truth a lot of this, and while this would be an opportunity to educate people about a subject that is so hush and most people know very little about, it’s just going to help people who don’t understand infertility to understand it less. Our society is ignorant to infertility. Now, before my inbox fills with hate mail, let me clarify. Ignorance just means you have a lack of information or you’re not educated in a subject. Six months ago, I couldn’t have carried on a conversation with anyone about IVF and infertility, because I was ignorant. I would hope that sites like ours and TV shows can help educate the general public, but much of the story line is far from true.

Tommy wouldn’t have had just one trip to the “Squirt Cup”, as I like to call it!! He would have had several exams and tests to confirm that he is sterile.

He and Julia would have visited with their doctor, read up on the subject and their options and come to terms emotionally with the diagnosis- all of which takes a lot of time.

Per my previous statement, they would have never ended up at the sperm bank so quickly.

As we’re all aware, the process is unbelievably expensive. They would have had to work out the finances.

Asking his brothers to donate and having them do so so quickly seems far-fetched as well.

I could nit-pick the storyline to death. I know it’s fiction and I know for the sake of keeping the story moving it has to, well, keep moving. And hanging up on the details of what real IVFers are living would bore the viewers to tears. Unfortunately, it is a very real story for Shelton and I, and for so many of us. I remember when Monica and Chandler on Friends were going through their adoption and how fast the process seemed and how they so effortlessly found a baby. I didn’t even really know about all this infertility business back then and I knew that wasn’t right. And my heart went out to so many couples who have tried for years and spent thousands of dollars and had no success, couples I know personally. How frustrating that must have been to watch- again, filling society with misinformation that doesn’t educate.

Like I said, I’m excited to see this subject in primetime. I hope it at least peaks curiosity in people and they try to learn more… try to learn the truth. What an opportunity to showcase the financial hardship that infertility brings and gain momentum for insurance coverage. But that’s a boat that’s probably been missed.

CNN Article about IVF Finances

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

My brother found this article on CNN Money. It’s about a couple going through IVF and the expenses involved. They offered a few tips that Shelton and I hadn’t really even thought about and thought we’d share with the rest of our little IVF club.

The four tips are as follows, but follow the above link to read the complete article.

FINANCIAL AID for Prospective Parents

1. Check your insurance for exclusions.
If your policy doesn’t mention your treatment by name and your claim is denied, you have strong grounds for an appeal. “If it’s not specifically excluded, it’s an implied inclusion,” says Pat Ferguson, an infertility medical billing expert.

2. Know what you’re entitled to.

Insurers often cover diagnostics. If you’re not reimbursed for tests, fight back. Infertility is the symptom of a medical problem, so you can make a compelling argument that testing for, say, endometriosis or fibroid tumors should be covered.

3. Carefully compare financing options.
Many infertility centers offer payment plans through third parties. Make sure you know exactly what’s covered and what’s not. Medications and pregnancy testing, for instance, are often excluded. “Shared risk” programs offer up to 100% refunds to qualified women if pregnancy is not achieved, but you may be charged twice as much for that money-back guarantee.

4. Check state laws.
Fourteen states require health insurers to cover infertility treatment (for the list, go to resolve.org, click on “Learn” and then click on “Insurance Coverage”). But there are caveats aplenty. For example, the laws don’t necessarily require employers to pay for the coverage, and all exempt self-insured plans. Before you forge ahead medically on the strength of state laws, read your policy’s fine print.