Chairman of British Fertility Society says current limit of £250 should be raised to £1,500 to reflect the ‘physical rigour’ involved
Women should be paid £1,500 rather than the current limit of £250 for donating eggs to women who want to have children, the leader of Britain’s fertility doctors urged today.
Dr Tony Rutherford, the chairman of the British Fertility Society, wants payments to be raised significantly to tackle the chronic shortage of donors that leaves many women with fertility problems unable to try to conceive.
“£1,500 seems to be reasonable compensation for the physical rigours that these women need to undergo”, Rutherford told the Guardian. “They need to have injections of drugs, invasive internal scans and then a small operative procedure to collect the eggs. They may also possibly need to have time off work to attend appointments spread over three to four weeks.”
Rutherford said that fees paid should also more closely match the amount of financial benefit gained by a woman who takes part in an egg-sharing scheme, in which she donates half of her eggs in return for cheap or free fertility treatment at a private clinic.
“The level of payment should reflect the monetary value of those taking part in an egg share arrangement, the so-called ‘payment in kind’, to ensure equity”, said Rutherford. “But compensation should not be so high that it acts as a financial inducement”, he added.
He was speaking ahead of a public debate tonight over whether egg donors should be paid, taking place at the Royal Society of Medicine in London and organised by the Progress Educational Trust.
The human misery caused by the severe shortage, and growing numbers of British women seeking fertility treatment abroad, has prompted the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to review the existing rules covering the donation of eggs, sperm and embryos. The organisation is starting a public consultation in January looking into compensation limits, issues around family members donating to each other, and whether donated eggs or sperm from any one donor should be allowed to create more than the current limit of ten families.
“We know there is a shortage of donor eggs and sperm. This means that people are having to wait longer for their treatment. In some instances people are travelling abroad where there may not be such a shortage”, said an HFEA spokesman. In 2008, 1,184 women donated eggs in the UK. Of those, 400 did so in an egg-sharing scheme while most of the other 784 did so to benefit friends or family, such as a sister. Higher payments have been mooted to help increase the tiny number of purely altruistic donors.
Sheena Young of Infertility Network UK, said that there is “no doubt that the current limit on expenses egg donors can claim does not accurately reflect the physical effort and time that women go through to donate their eggs”. She also added that campaigns to promote donation were just as important as payment.
