IVF pioneer Lord Robert Winston has spoken out against IVF clinics that he believes are “cashing in” by overcharging patients who are storing frozen embryos.

IVF pioneer Lord Robert Winston has spoken out against IVF clinics that he believes are “cashing in” by overcharging patients who are storing frozen embryos. Clinics are being advised to use only one embryo at a time in order to reduce health risks associated with multiple births, so couples freeze the others. Lord Winston said that some clinics were taking advantage of these “one at a time” regulations. He revealed that one clinic charged £915 for embryo freezing plus £325 for storage in liquid nitrogen which “costs a few pence a litre”.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on the future of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), Professor Winston said: “Embryo freezing will be increasingly required if we are to limit the number of pregnancies that result in multiple births by transferring just one embryo each time.”

Lord Winston also said that some clinics are providing treatments that are not supported by scientific evidence. These include immune therapy which costs as much as £3,000 and is based on the belief that a woman’s immune system may reject a pregnancy and lead to a miscarriage. “Where is the evidence that immune therapy actually improves the success rate of pregnancies?” Lord Winston asked.  “I do not know of that evidence and, indeed, the treatmentmay even be damaging or harmful to the patient’s residual immune system.” ~ London EveningStandard, May 17

Top fertility doc says London IVF clinics are “cashing in” by overcharging patients
Jared Yee
HFEA
IVF

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