April 20, 2024

Want a baby? Need finance?

NBC TV profiles a novel twist to expensive IVF cycles in the US – fertility finance.

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NBC TV profiles a novel twist to expensive IVF cycles in the US – fertility finance. (Click here to see video.) Dozens of companies are springing up to help couples have children. Some of them give kickbacks to the doctors or give doctors a shareholding. Cassie Murdoch, a writer with Slate, fretted about lending to couples who are desperate to have children. “Think about what happened when predatory mortgages were being handed out like candy,” she writes. NBC also interviewed bioethicist Art Caplan, New York University. He was highly critical:

“When someone comes and says I can make this possible for you and I can make the financing possible, you really have to be a little bit careful because you’ve got vulnerable, desperate people who want to hear that there’s an answer to their prayers. I’m worried they’re not going to hear the failure and success rate, the interest rate, and what the risks are of the treatments.” 

Michael Cook
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fertility finance
IVF