Mum heads to Thailand in bid for daughter

A Melbourne woman is flying to Thailand to circumvent Australian guidelines which prevent families from determing the sex of of IVF babies.

The woman, known as Olivia, has three sons and says she has a strong desire to have a daughter.

"It's just something deep in me that I can't shake. I just feel this really strong wish to have a daughter to raise with my sons in a balanced family," she said.

"We conceived naturally for our three sons. This is not something we've taken on lightly."

Families are not allowed to choose the sex of a child through IVF in Australia under current guidelines and that is why she has to travel to Thailand for the procedure, which she estimates will cost about $15,000.

She says the treatment should be available in Australia.

"To me it's about providing choice but with parameters," she said.

"I don't think there is going to be a flood of women because this doesn't affect a lot of women."

Olivia says she is in touch with a number of other women who are also going overseas to obtain gender selection treatment.

Professor Loane Skene, from the University of Melbourne and a member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee, supports the plan.

She says Australians are allowed to travel to the United States to have a surrogate baby and does not see why Olivia and her family should be prevented from doing what they want to do.

However, Professor Skene does not think the law needs to be changed.

"I think many people are going to have sympathy for this sort of thing because it is such a strong human urge," she told ABC Radio's Jon Faine.

"It seems to me that the kerfuffle of going through IVF with all of the ups and downs and heartache of it all is not something that people are going to take on lightly quite apart from the cost."

Victorian Premier John Brumby has ruled out relaxing restrictions on access to IVF treatment in the state.

"There might be some particular cases where there is a medical case for saying that it's important to have a boy or a girl, but where it is non-medical, the Law Reform Commission and indeed the overwhelming body of advice on this suggests that it is not a requirement or a priority, in terms of changing policy," he said.

IVF begets 2nd generation

One of the first women in Australia to be born through IVF technology has herself had a baby - by natural means.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, Megan Randal, who as Megan Leslie was Queensland's first baby conceived using in-vitro fertilisation, bore a son, Charley, on June 12.

In another twist, the same obstetrician who delivered Megan and her twin brother 26 years ago also acted as obstetrician for Charley's birth. Dr Doug Keeping delivered Megan and Matthew in March, 1984.

There were fears about whether IVF babies would themselves be able to bear children without difficulty.

Australia's first IVF-conceived baby, Candice Reed, turns 30 on June 23.

Financial compulsions lead to patients asking for more Embryos

Birth rate of twins and triplets is set to increase as more Australian women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) insist doctors to implant multiple embryos to reduce the cost of fertility treatment.

Despite multiple births carrying a five-fold greater risk of death, premature delivery or other complications, clinic chiefs say more couples are taking the chance.

According to experts, cuts to health care rebate have pushed up patient costs by about $1500 for each IVF cycle, forcing many to delay or abandon attempts to conceive. There is more pressure from cash-strapped patients to implant multiple embryos to boost chances of pregnancy in one cycle, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

'They're saying, we understand that it's more dangerous but we can't afford to do another cycle so we'll have two embryos put back and we'll deal with the consequences. If our (premature) baby... has to have eight weeks in intensive care, well medicare pays for that,' said Gab Kovacs, international medical director at Monash IVF in Melbourne.

Medical director of Fertility First in Hurstville, Anne Clark, said while some patients asked for more than a single-embryo transfer, more opted out of having a second child through IVF.

IVF Australia medical director and Fertility Society president Peter Illingworth said the trend would affect the health system.

'There can be long-term health complications for twins born as a result of IVF,' he said.

'Ideally, we would like to put one embryo in at a time because of those risks but we are getting more pressure from patients to do two.'

In January, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon capped Medicare safety net payments - which paid 80 percent of the gap between doctors' fees and the Medicare rebate - after a review found specialists were charging patients excessive fees.

According to government, patients would be no worse off if specialists charged $6000, the cost of a typical cycle. But doctors said the average cycle cost up to $7500, or higher if patients required extra treatment.

Sandra Dill, from infertility support group Access Australia, said it had been receiving 30 to 40 calls and e-mails a week since the changes, from patients complaining to be under increased financial stress.

Prisoner's legal bid for IVF treatment

A Supreme Court judge has ordered a speedy trial for a Victorian prisoner seeking IVF treatment.

Kimberley Castles, 45, has a year left on her sentence for welfare fraud at the Tarrengower Prison near Maldon, north-west of Melbourne.

She has to have IVF treatment before her 46th birthday in seven months, otherwise she becomes ineligible for the procedure.

Her bid to access immediate treatment was refused in court today.

But her lawyer, Rachel Ball, says she is pleased the court has decided to expedite the trial.

"The key human rights in this case are Kimberley's right to privacy, to make her own decisions about her own family, her right to be treated fairly in prison," she said.

"That includes her right to access health care equivalent to the health care that's available to everyone else in the community."

What You Sell?

Two Australian businessmen in Brisbane were sitting down for a break in their new store. As yet, the store wasn't ready, with no stock and only a few shelves set up.

One said to the other, 'I bet any minute now some idiot tourist is going to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we're selling'.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious Japanese tourist walked to the window, had a peek, and in a thick Japanese accent asked

'What you sell?'
One of the men replied sarcastically, 'We're selling arse-holes.'

Without skipping a beat, the Japanese man said,

'You doing velly well, only two left'.