Boutique Egg Freezing: Empowering Technology or Marketing Phenomenon? A Word of Caution.

The introduction of oocyte vitrification has propelled the field of oncofertility. However, it is becoming increasingly common to offer planned oocyte cryopreservation to healthy, fertile women due to a lack of a partner or other personal issues. The aim of this article is to discuss the pros and cons of planned oocyte cryopreservation along with potential exploitation issues by unregulated clinics and international agencies. This article further encourages obstetricians and gynecologists to discuss these issues of planned oocyte cryopreservation with their patients to empower them to make an educated decision based on research and science rather than be susceptible to entities that stand to gain monetarily by prompting women to fear a childless future.

Societal pressures and procreative preferences for gay fathers successfully pursuing parenthood through IVF and gestational carriers.

This retrospective study surveyed decision-making and challenges among 78 gay cisgender male couples utilizing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and a gestational carrier. While most couples (67.1%) found the decision to actively pursue fertility treatment 'not difficult', 32.9% felt that it was 'somewhat difficult' or 'very or extremely difficult'. Almost 30% of couples had not undertaken financial planning for treatment, which introduced delays of > 2 years for 25.3% of participants. Conceiving twins was 'important to very important' in 52.3% of couples, and 84.2% of couples chose to transfer two embryos to 'increase the odds' or reach an ideal family size in a single attempt despite increased complications with multiple pregnancies. Paternal leave was granted for one partner in 47.3% of couples, and for both partners in 43.2% of couples. One-third of couples reported experiencing discrimination, prompting a partner to seek employment, and 38% changed jobs or careers. For 80.3% of couples, the estimated cost exceeded US$100,000. Couples where one partner was aged > 50 years were significantly more likely to find the decision to actively pursue fertility treatment 'very or extremely difficult' (28.6%), and less likely to agree on becoming parents (64.3%). Gay male couples undergoing assisted reproduction face challenges regarding decision-making, lack of infertility benefits and discrimination, which appear to be influenced by age and country of residence. Policy and educational changes are needed, including broader fertility benefits, more egalitarian parental leave, and greater awareness of risks inherent to multiple gestation.

Legal principles and seminal legal cases in oocyte donation.

Oocyte donation has played an increasingly important role in assisted reproductive technologies since the early 1980s. Over the past 30 years, unique legal standards have evolved to address issues in the oocyte donation procedure itself as well as the disputes over issues, such as parentage, that inevitably arise with new technologies, particularly for individuals seeking to build nontraditional families. This essay will explore oocyte donation's legal aspects as well as seminal law concerning the procedure, including statutory law (uniform and model provisions and enacted state laws) and selected judicial opinions concerning surrogacy and parentage, testing of oocyte donors, mix-ups of donated oocytes, and donor compensation.

Using the EngagedMD multimedia platform to improve informed consent for ovulation induction, intrauterine insemination, and in vitro fertilization.

OBJECTIVE: To study patient and provider feedback on how a multimedia platform (EngagedMD) helps patients to understand the risks and consequences of in vitro fertilization (IVF), ovulation induction (OI), and intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatments and the impact of the informed consent process. DESIGN: Prospective survey study. SETTING: IVF units in the United States. PATIENT(S): Six-thousand three-hundred and thirty-three patients who viewed the multimedia platform before IVF or OI-IUI treatment at 13 U.S. IVF centers and 128 providers. INTERVENTION(S): Quantitative survey with 17 questions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Assessment of the impact of a multimedia platform on patient anxiety, comprehension, and satisfaction and provider/nurse feedback related to the informed consent process. RESULT(S): The survey was completed by 3,097 respondents (66% IVF treatment; 34% OI-IUI treatment) and 44 providers. Overall, 93% felt the media platform was intuitive, and 90% and 95% felt it had appropriate duration and detail, respectively. Most agreed/strongly agreed it better prepared them to consent (88%), increased their comfort in pursuing treatment (77%) and increased their satisfaction with their care (83%). Compared with the OI-IUI group, statistically significantly more participants who viewed the IVF media platform strongly agreed that the comprehension questions reinforced key concepts (47% vs. 40%), educated them about treatment risks (55% vs. 44%), helped them ask providers informed questions (45% vs. 36%), and better prepared them to sign consent forms (46% vs. 37%). Overall, 63% of providers felt that the media platform improved patient learning, made patients more accountable, and standardized information dissemination. CONCLUSION(S): The EngagedMD media platform improves patient knowledge, satisfaction, and control over medical decision making and better prepares patients to give informed consent. Furthermore, it is well-liked by providers and is easily implemented.

Paper trails, trailing behind: improving informed consent to IVF through multimedia applications.

Though intended to educate patients on the risks, benefits, side effects and alternatives within medical treatment, informed consent documents may have unanticipated consequences for patients. Patients may regard these forms as little more than a ritual to access treatment. Or patients may perceive that these forms exist to protect doctors rather than to contribute to a meaningful, patient-protective educational interaction. To rehabilitate the informed consent project, this essay considers the baggage that informed consent documents have acquired through practical use, explores patients' and providers' lived experience of informed consent, and considers whether a multimedia consent application would be a viable solution to the various difficulties that currently erode perceptions of and confidence in the informed consent process.

Conceiving of Products and the Products of Conception: Reflections on Commodification, Consumption, ART, and Abortion.

Assisted reproductive technologies and abortion prompt serious questions about how we should understand the complex relationship between money, markets, choice, and the care relationship. This essay defines "patient" and "consumer," and then describes how they are less important than their attributes. Then it describes theories of commodification and consumption in reproductive contexts and their consequences, from compliance and coercion to resistance and creativity. It also examines whether ART and abortion are "markets." Finally, this essay explores how the attributes which comprise the patient/consumer roles can be incorporated into health care reform, and the implications of health care reform models on ART and abortion.