Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Oldest Mother Dies At 69 Orphaning Twin IVF Babies
Single mother María Carmen del Bousada de Lara, a retired shop worker from Cadiz in Spain, has died at the age of 69, orphaning her two and a half year old twin sons that she gave birth to at the age of 66 after receiving IVF treatment at an American fertility clinic.
Bousada's family told the Spanish newspaper Diario de Cadiz that she died on Saturday but gave no details.
Bousada's death, which according to the Spanish newspaper is thought to be from cancer, has reignited the debate about allowing older women to undergo fertility treatment. The newspaper said she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth to Christian and Pau at Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona on 29 December 2006.
After the births, Bousada told a Spanish television programme that the drugs she took during the IVF treatment probably helped the cancer to spread. She said however that she had no regrets.
Bousada went to America to have in vitro fertilization treatment in early 2006, after selling her house in Cadiz to help pay for it. She later admitted lying about her age: she told doctors who treated her at the Pacific Fertility Centre in Los Angeles that she was 55.
According to a report in Times Online, one of the doctors, Vicken Sahakian, told the press later that Bousada had presented fake documents showing she was 55 years old. Sahakian said:
"If I had known her real age I would not have treated her."
However, according to the Diario de Cadiz report, Bousada had said that nobody at the Los Angeles clinic had asked to see her passport, nor had they asked for proof of her age.
The first stage of her treatment involved hormone treatment to reverse the menopause: she had not had a period for nearly 20 years. Bousada said later that it felt strange to have a period after so much time.
The Spanish paper reported that during the final stages of her pregnancy doctors were worried and even feared for her life. However, the babies were born with no complications, apart from having to spend one month in incubators.
Bousada's brother, Ricardo said yesterday that his sister's fight against cancer will be covered in a story that has been sold to a Spanish television channel. He did not give details about the exact cause of his sister's disease and said that the money from the deal would help provide for his orphaned nephews.
Bousada's family will most likely care for the two boys; there is speculation that younger cousins thought to be in their thirties or forties will take on the role.
The news has provoked fresh calls for an upper age limit for fertility treatment in Spain, where family values are important, said a Times Online report.
Nuria Terribas of the Borja Bioethics Institute told the press that:
"We think a limit of 45 should be established in law."
"Cases like this not only create physical dangers for the mother but many family complications," added Terribas.
Josep Torrence of the progressive Catholic organization Iglesia Plural said that leaving children unprotected should not be allowed.
"What is needed are stricter controls to stop this happening again," he added.
After her twin boys were born, Bousada reportedly told UK's The News of the World that she expected to live a long life.
"My mother lived to 101 years old and I have every reason to believe longevity runs in my family," she said, even joking that she might live to see her grandchildren.
According to Diario de Cadiz, Bousada had cared for her mother until her death in 2005 and it was only then that she felt she could go ahead and realize her dream to have children. When she told a small circle of friends what she was going to do, nobody believed her, and said it would be impossible, reported the newspaper.
Bousada asked that people not judge her, when she commented about the surprised reactions she evoked when people saw she was pregnant.
According to a BBC report, when Bousada gave birth she was 66 years and 358 days old, which is 130 days older than Adriana Iliescu of Romania who gave birth to a baby girl in 2005.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Lesbian couple win fight for IVF on the NHS
A Lesbian couple have won the right to IVF on the NHS after a legal tussle, ahead of laws that will put same-sex patients on an equal footing with heterosexuals.
The couple, who remain anonymous, had to go through a legal fight to push the NHS to fund IVF because, at the moment, individual trusts decide whether they wish to pay for treatment for lesbians.
The couple were initially refused IVF by their primary care trust because they were of the same sex. One of the women had polycystic ovarian syndrome, which disrupts ovulation, and is one of the most common causes of infertility.
From October, clinics will no longer be able to block lesbians by referring to a child’s “need for a father”. Instead, same-sex couples will need to demonstrate only that they can offer “supportive parenting”.
If NHS trusts continue to deny lesbians fertility treatment after this date they face possible legal action.
Ruth Hunt, head of policy at Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, said: “The changes in the law should mean that no infertile lesbian is refused NHS fertility treatment on the grounds of her sexual orientation.
“We have just published a guide on how to get pregnant for lesbians in response to lots of queries. This is a hot topic for us at the moment.”
While same-sex couples have won new rights, many heterosexual couples continue to be denied IVF on the NHS. Only 27% of trusts offer heterosexual couples three cycles of treatment as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the NHS guidance body.
If lesbians are fertile they can usually conceive by intrauterine insemination (IUI), the medical name for donor insemination. This is less complicated than IVF, which involves fertilising eggs in a test tube. IUI is also cheaper,at about £700 per attempt compared with £3,000 per cycle of IVF.
The lesbian couple enlisted David Herbert, a partner at the law firm Lester Aldridge, when they were denied IVF on the grounds that they were of the same sex. The trust reversed its decision in June.
Herbert said: “Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is contrary to the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act. There is an element of conflict in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 which requires clinics to consider a child’s ‘need for a father’.
“This was used historically to justify denying treatment to same-sex couples. The ‘need for a father’ element is just about to be removed on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The assessment will be for ‘supportive parenting’, which will come into force in October.”
The government’s equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, took an interest and offered its support to the couple.
This is the second known case in which lesbians have been given fertility treatment after a legal fight. In February a Scottish couple forced Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS health board to offer them treatment.
The couple, who remain anonymous, had to go through a legal fight to push the NHS to fund IVF because, at the moment, individual trusts decide whether they wish to pay for treatment for lesbians.
The couple were initially refused IVF by their primary care trust because they were of the same sex. One of the women had polycystic ovarian syndrome, which disrupts ovulation, and is one of the most common causes of infertility.
From October, clinics will no longer be able to block lesbians by referring to a child’s “need for a father”. Instead, same-sex couples will need to demonstrate only that they can offer “supportive parenting”.
If NHS trusts continue to deny lesbians fertility treatment after this date they face possible legal action.
Ruth Hunt, head of policy at Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, said: “The changes in the law should mean that no infertile lesbian is refused NHS fertility treatment on the grounds of her sexual orientation.
“We have just published a guide on how to get pregnant for lesbians in response to lots of queries. This is a hot topic for us at the moment.”
While same-sex couples have won new rights, many heterosexual couples continue to be denied IVF on the NHS. Only 27% of trusts offer heterosexual couples three cycles of treatment as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the NHS guidance body.
If lesbians are fertile they can usually conceive by intrauterine insemination (IUI), the medical name for donor insemination. This is less complicated than IVF, which involves fertilising eggs in a test tube. IUI is also cheaper,at about £700 per attempt compared with £3,000 per cycle of IVF.
The lesbian couple enlisted David Herbert, a partner at the law firm Lester Aldridge, when they were denied IVF on the grounds that they were of the same sex. The trust reversed its decision in June.
Herbert said: “Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is contrary to the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act. There is an element of conflict in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 which requires clinics to consider a child’s ‘need for a father’.
“This was used historically to justify denying treatment to same-sex couples. The ‘need for a father’ element is just about to be removed on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The assessment will be for ‘supportive parenting’, which will come into force in October.”
The government’s equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, took an interest and offered its support to the couple.
This is the second known case in which lesbians have been given fertility treatment after a legal fight. In February a Scottish couple forced Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS health board to offer them treatment.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
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