I-22: Ethical Issues in Everyday Infertility Practice

Background: Infertility is a speciality that has attracted considerable attention, focussing mainly on ’controversial’ issues (such as saviour siblings) and national policy. Whereas, relatively little is known about how infertility clinicians approach ethical decisions in their everyday practice. This study aims to develop a deeper understanding of this by examining how infertility clinicians construct the ethical aspects of their practice. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with infertility clinicians in the UK. Interviews lasted on average an hour and were tape recorded and transcribed. A modified grounded theory method of data collection and analysis was used. Results: The study found that the process by which ethical decisions were made was of key importance to the clinicians: such decisions were seen as most appropriately taken by a group reaching a consensus, to ensure impartiality and consistency. The study also found a number of key issues that the clinicians found ethical troubling the main ones being: whether the donor should be anonymous; how to apply welfare of the child criteria when assessing recipients for treatment; and treating same-sex couples. These and other issues raised during the study will be discussed and explored. The implications of these findings for how ethical decision- making can be strengthened both in infertility units and general clinical practice will be discussed.