One of the few examples of explicit rationing in the National Health Service is provided by in vitro fertilisation. Ofsix purchasing authorities examined three have decided against buying in vitro fertilisation while three have decided in favour. The decisions reflect local factors such as the absence or presence of local providers and the views of the public and health professionals. But in vi...

OBJECTIVE To analyze users' reasons for choosing in vitro fertilization treatment in public or private services and to identify their suggestions for improving fertility treatment. METHODS A qualitative study using an interpretative approach was conducted. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment (nine women, one man and five ...

The authors assessed the accuracy of cause(s) of subfertility as reported by women in a self-administered questionnaire in comparison with medical record information, in a nationwide cohort study of women receiving in vitro fertilization treatment in the Netherlands (n = 9,164) between 1983 and 1995. Validity was expressed as sensitivity and specificity, and reliability was expressed by the kap...

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PIGD) goes some way to meeting the clinical, psychological and ethical problems of antenatal testing. We should guard, however, against the assumption that PIGD is the answer to all our problems. It also presents some new problems and leaves some old problems untouched. This paper will provide an overview of how PIGD meets some of the old problems but will con...

Despite numerous studies on mammalian fertilization, the mechanisms of fertilization-including the timing of acrosome reaction-remain largely unknown; more accurately described, the classical theory built upon years of layered experimental data is being challenged by recent conflicting evidence provided by gene-manipulated animals. Although in vitro fertilization remains our central research to...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the outcomes of patients with moderate oligoasthenozoospermia treated with conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). METHODS A total of 99 couples with moderate oligoasthenozoospermia undergoing their first IVF/ICSI cycle were included in the study. Sibling oocytes were randomized to be inseminated either by conventional IVF o...

Since 1978, when the first test tube baby, Louis Brown, was born, thousands of children have been born every year through in vitro fertilization. Many families keep attending fertility clinics in order to receive some treatment for their infertility problems and have a child. Children born in this way are worthy human beings. Their parents love them and devote themselves to their children admir...

On January 26, 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to the nation’s second set of octuplets. Over the course of 30 days Ms. Suleman became the subject of outrage and outrageous representations over her choice to have in vitro fertilization since she already had six children. Embedded in Suleman’s public construction and representations are subtle transcripts of race, class, and reproduction. This art...

The decision of the UK House of Commons in 2015 to endorse the use of pioneering in vitro fertilisation techniques to protect future generations from the risk of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) disease has sparked worldwide controversy and debate. The availability of such technologies could benefit women at risk of transmitting deleterious mutations. MtDNA disease certainly occurs in South Africa (SA...

Some existing laws and some proposed legislation regulating the practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) limit its availability to infertile couples. Dawson and Singer question whether it is reasonable to so restrict access to IVF, and examine some of the medical and social circumstances in which IVF and the related procedures of embryo freezing, embryo biopsy, and embryo transfer might be use...