The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has criticised the UK’s IVF industry for pushing non-essential and unproven add-ons to patients undergoing fertility treatment.
Women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in the UK have been sold unproven add-ons, HFEA said this week, after a survey of 1,500 patients found that 73% had used such extras offered by private fertility clinics.
“We are worried that people are spending money unnecessarily”, HFEA director Clare Ettinghausen told BBC Radio 4. “We have looked at the evidence… they are not necessarily going to increase the chance of having a baby.”
“This is people themselves reporting on whether they took perhaps an additional supplement, like a vitamin tablet, or had a test or perhaps something like acupuncture.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson also slammed the “unnecessary treatments” as “unacceptable… We are also currently considering advice from the HFEA about priorities for law reform covering their regulatory powers.”
HFEA has no authority to fine private fertility clinics, though it has an online tool rating add-ons for consumers.
In 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and FHEA jointly issued new guidelines to tackle the dishonesty of the IVF industry that was found to be exaggerating the IVF success rates.
“All patients deserve to have the information they need to make the right choices for them and be treated fairly”, said Louise Strong, the CMA’s consumer director.
On average, one IVF cycle costs between £3,500 and £8,000 in the UK. The average IVF pregnancy success rate using fresh embryo transfers was 31% in 2022, according to FHEA data.
52,500 patients underwent IVF at HFEA-licensed clinics in 2022.
Cycles see many human embryos discarded in the process, which is why IVF is considered unethical by the pro-life movement, including SPUC.
174,622 embryos were discarded during treatment or after they had been taken out of storage in the UK in 2017 alone. The number of embryos destroyed between 1991 and 2017 totalled 2,753,560.
In 2023, an IVF whistleblower won her case of unfair dismissal after being sacked by a Glasgow clinic that she said was misleading patients about the prospects of success.
“[I] asked too many questions, tried to take care when implementing changes, raised numerous items of concern, tried to prevent further risky stretching of the system and tried to ensure the lab team work as safely as possible”, whistleblower Ann Henderson stated.
Judge Brian Campbell ultimately ruled in favour of “Ms Henderson’s belief that she was making her disclosures in the public interest”.
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