Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Young widow to try for IVF baby
A young widow spoke of the hard decision she made to have her deceased husband's baby through fertility treatment.
Lisa Wilkinson, 26, married her partner of five years Gareth Wilkinson two years ago while he was undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of bone cancer.
Mrs Wilkinson, a staff nurse at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, and Mr Wilkinson, a care assistant in the hospital's accident and emergency department, were determined to walk up the aisle and not be beaten by the illness.
In April last year, Mrs Wilkinson won a local newspaper's Bride of the Year competition, after judges heard her tragic story. But in September Mr Wilkinson, 26, lost his battle against the cancer.
Before he underwent a programme of chemotherapy, he gave a sample of his sperm to be frozen to allow the couple, from Wellington, Somerset, to have a child. Now Mrs Wilkinson is preparing to go ahead with the IVF treatment next year.
Mrs Wilkinson told the Western Daily Press: "I miss him so much, every day I miss him more I suppose.
"Gareth had been ill for a long time but you can't prepare for something like this.
"We made the decision some time ago that we would take a sample so we could have a baby and I'm going to start the treatment in January. It is what we both wanted.
"It will be hard without Gareth but I have a lot of support from family and friends who have been great."
Mr Wilkinson's situation appeared to improve later last year, but the cancer returned and they were dealt the devastating news that he might not survive. He died on September 10.
Lisa Wilkinson, 26, married her partner of five years Gareth Wilkinson two years ago while he was undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of bone cancer.
Mrs Wilkinson, a staff nurse at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, and Mr Wilkinson, a care assistant in the hospital's accident and emergency department, were determined to walk up the aisle and not be beaten by the illness.
In April last year, Mrs Wilkinson won a local newspaper's Bride of the Year competition, after judges heard her tragic story. But in September Mr Wilkinson, 26, lost his battle against the cancer.
Before he underwent a programme of chemotherapy, he gave a sample of his sperm to be frozen to allow the couple, from Wellington, Somerset, to have a child. Now Mrs Wilkinson is preparing to go ahead with the IVF treatment next year.
Mrs Wilkinson told the Western Daily Press: "I miss him so much, every day I miss him more I suppose.
"Gareth had been ill for a long time but you can't prepare for something like this.
"We made the decision some time ago that we would take a sample so we could have a baby and I'm going to start the treatment in January. It is what we both wanted.
"It will be hard without Gareth but I have a lot of support from family and friends who have been great."
Mr Wilkinson's situation appeared to improve later last year, but the cancer returned and they were dealt the devastating news that he might not survive. He died on September 10.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Single men turning to surrogates
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jeff Walker says from as far back as he can remember, he always wanted to be a father.
Jeff Walker, with his two daughters, tried to adopt, but ultimately turned to surogacy to build a family.
"It was always something I knew, from the time I was a child." Just like his 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who says she wants to be a mommy someday, Jeff says, "I knew I wanted to be a daddy."
Walker, a Manhattan music executive, says he and his partner had talked about adopting a baby years ago. But after three emotionally draining, failed attempts at adoption, they decided to turn to surrogacy. They contacted Circle Surrogacy, a Boston agency that specializes in gay clients. Their child was conceived with a donor egg, and then the embryo implanted in the surrogate, or carrier.
After Elizabeth was born, Walker and his partner separated. He then made a critical decision -- to become a dad again, single, and by choice.
"I realized my family, my two-dad family was going to look different than I thought it was going to look," he said. Without a partner, he would face even steeper challenges raising Elizabeth and a sibling alone. Walker says he gave the decision a lot of thought.
"That was the only part that was really controversial, because I do think there are a lot of challenges that single parents face, but at the same time I felt I was capable of handling those challenges," he said.
His second daughter, Alexandra, was born two years ago to the same surrogate, implanted with an egg from a different donor.
Walker, 45, is one of a growing number of single men -- both gay and straight -- who are opting to become fathers alone, with the help of gestational surrogacy.
Surrogacy experts say because the practice is not regulated, many surrogacy arrangements are handled privately by individuals. Precise figures are hard to come by, but experts say there's no doubt the United States is experiencing a surrogacy baby boom.
Celebrities like Ricky Martin and Clay Aiken announced this year they had had babies with the help of surrogates and the the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, representing scores of reproductive clinics, reports that the number of gestational surrogate births in the country quadrupled between 1996 and 2006. Watch more on the surrogacy boom »
Surrogacy experts say gestational surrogacy has increased steadily since the advent of in vitro fertilization in the early 1980s, because it provides an extra layer of emotional and legal protection for the client. The egg donor usually does not even know the client, and unlike the legally contentious "Baby M" case from the 1980s, the surrogate is not giving birth to her genetic child.
"It rises as an issue far less frequently with gestational surrogacy, because women never see it as their child to begin with," said John Weltman, president of Circle Surrogacy.
His agency, which expects more than 70 babies to be born in 2009, has seen a 50 percent growth in the number of single male clients over the past year.
Walker and other men are willing to pay well over $100,000 to have a baby through surrogacy -- the final cost depending on the number of IVF treatments necessary and how much is paid by insurance.
Circle is not the only major surrogacy provider experiencing a single-dad surge. At Growing Generations, a Los Angeles, California, agency that facilitates about 100 births a year, the number of single men seeking surrogates has doubled in the past three years, spokeswoman Erica Bowers said.
Although most of their single male clients are gay, surrogacy providers say a smaller but growing number are straight. Steven Harris, a New York malpractice and personal-injury attorney, says he gave up trying to get married when he realized his primary motive was to start a family.
Harris, 54, says he knew he made the right decision after 21-month old Ben was born.
"I thought getting married was the only way to go, because I did want a family. But having Ben, I feel complete now," Harris says.
Test-tube babies profitable business for the state
In many countries in Europe, too few children are being born for the population to replace itself. In the future this can entail major problems when it comes to financing health care and pensions, for example. In Greece, Italy, and Spain roughly 1.3 children are born per woman, and in Sweden the figure is 1.88. At the same time, in Sweden, for instance, some 10 percent of all couples are unable to have children for various reasons, even though they wish to.
"Subsidized in vitro fertilization is not a total solution for aging populations, but it is part of a strategy. And it's important to have plan to make Sweden and other countries better able to deal with the future," says Anders Svensson, today a medical student, who is the lead author of the article and who was prompted by a suggestion from the American think tank Rand to look at state-subsidized IVF treatment.
The author of the article points out that there are great regional differences in Sweden today when it comes to how easy it is to get access to county-subsidized in vitro fertilization. Certain county councils will not pay if the couple already has children; some pay for two attempts only, and others for three attempts.
"Actually roughly half of all test-tube fertilizations are paid for out of pocket, which means that only those who can afford it can undergo IVF treatment."
In the longer term the state benefits from subsidizing the costs of test-tube children for couples that are involuntarily childless.
"This is a group that could potentially help boost population growth. Our calculations show that in a long-term perspective in vitro fertilization doesn't cost the state anything at all since the state actually sees a return on its investment in the form of the tax monies the individual will pay during his or her lifetime."
Anders Svensson uses a scenario where every test-tube baby is an average person in terms of longevity and income, for example. The study is based on a net present value calculation, which factors in inflation and other parameters. If the state invests in a test-tube baby today, that investment today is worth SEK 254,000, calculated only on what the individual will pay in income tax and value-added tax – other taxes have not been counted, which means that the state's profit per individual is likely underestimated.
"The effect on the Swedish population curve is comparable to raising state child allowances by 25 percent, but at a lower cost."
In other countries, IVF children are probably even more profitable, since Sweden has a relatively costly welfare system. In a similar calculation based on British conditions, two co-authors of the article in SJPH, Federico Callo, Rand, and Mark Connolly, Global Market Access Solutions, have found that every IVF child yields a profit of GBP 160,069.
"The difference can largely be explained by the fact that schooling, elderly care, and health care are relatively higher costs for the Swedish state than for the UK state. In other words, the Swedish welfare system is more expensive, which reduces the profits," says Anders Svensson.
One third of all inhabitants in Europe will be older than 65 years old in 2050, compared with every sixth person today.
"If we want to maintain our various welfare systems as they look today, we need to reverse the downward population trend, since in the future fewer and fewer working people will be supporting more and more old people."
Increased subsidization would moreover reduce some of the personal suffering that comes from wanting to have children, but not being able to.
"Test-tube fertilization differs from all other medical treatment. It creates life instead of extending life. This is unique," says Anders Svensson.
Source: Swedish Research Council
"Subsidized in vitro fertilization is not a total solution for aging populations, but it is part of a strategy. And it's important to have plan to make Sweden and other countries better able to deal with the future," says Anders Svensson, today a medical student, who is the lead author of the article and who was prompted by a suggestion from the American think tank Rand to look at state-subsidized IVF treatment.
The author of the article points out that there are great regional differences in Sweden today when it comes to how easy it is to get access to county-subsidized in vitro fertilization. Certain county councils will not pay if the couple already has children; some pay for two attempts only, and others for three attempts.
"Actually roughly half of all test-tube fertilizations are paid for out of pocket, which means that only those who can afford it can undergo IVF treatment."
In the longer term the state benefits from subsidizing the costs of test-tube children for couples that are involuntarily childless.
"This is a group that could potentially help boost population growth. Our calculations show that in a long-term perspective in vitro fertilization doesn't cost the state anything at all since the state actually sees a return on its investment in the form of the tax monies the individual will pay during his or her lifetime."
Anders Svensson uses a scenario where every test-tube baby is an average person in terms of longevity and income, for example. The study is based on a net present value calculation, which factors in inflation and other parameters. If the state invests in a test-tube baby today, that investment today is worth SEK 254,000, calculated only on what the individual will pay in income tax and value-added tax – other taxes have not been counted, which means that the state's profit per individual is likely underestimated.
"The effect on the Swedish population curve is comparable to raising state child allowances by 25 percent, but at a lower cost."
In other countries, IVF children are probably even more profitable, since Sweden has a relatively costly welfare system. In a similar calculation based on British conditions, two co-authors of the article in SJPH, Federico Callo, Rand, and Mark Connolly, Global Market Access Solutions, have found that every IVF child yields a profit of GBP 160,069.
"The difference can largely be explained by the fact that schooling, elderly care, and health care are relatively higher costs for the Swedish state than for the UK state. In other words, the Swedish welfare system is more expensive, which reduces the profits," says Anders Svensson.
One third of all inhabitants in Europe will be older than 65 years old in 2050, compared with every sixth person today.
"If we want to maintain our various welfare systems as they look today, we need to reverse the downward population trend, since in the future fewer and fewer working people will be supporting more and more old people."
Increased subsidization would moreover reduce some of the personal suffering that comes from wanting to have children, but not being able to.
"Test-tube fertilization differs from all other medical treatment. It creates life instead of extending life. This is unique," says Anders Svensson.
Source: Swedish Research Council
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