Infertility Survivors Finally Heard
IVF industry messaging is a hot mess. That’s the conclusion I came to after seeing yet another study this week come from the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). Yes, you read that headline correctly. Patients overestimate success in IVF. The implication is that we arrived at this conclusion independently. As my colleague […]
Each October I make a point to follow the ASRM conference. For those who don’t know, ASRM is the largest IVF industry trade group in the United States. They gather each year to congratulate each other and promote new ways ways to grow their clinics and businesses. This year was no different. Fortunately, the editors […]
Abuse is a strong word. A formal definition of abuse is to “treat (a person or an animal) with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.” Mistreatment is one synonym. Linking Abuse with IVF I will travel from the U.S. to London later this week. Once there I will collaborate with clinicians, bioethicists, social scientists, […]
IVF is a Sausage Factory I was not Prepared For… So writes Professor James Arvanitakis in an essay for The Sydney Morning Herald. Oh how we hear you, James. We are immensely grateful for your honesty. In a few paragraphs you painted a clear picture of what it feels like to be on the receiving […]
Performance review time, already, for the fertility industry? Yes, it’s mid-October so let’s check in on the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) confab. This year it’s billed as a Scientific Congress and EXPO. Per usual, there are a few eyebrow raisers. I followed #ASRM2016 on Twitter over coffee this morning. (A decision made easier […]
Moira Weigel’s essay in The Guardian, The foul reign of the biological clock, casts new light on a little explored but powerful cultural phenomenon. It also revealed the fertility industry’s long history of capitalizing on fertility fears, with women paying the price. Let’s start with the facts. The term ‘biological clock,’ Weigel explains, was originally […]
Most of us take non-profits and their causes at face value and assume the people leading the charge are straight arrows with nary a conflict of interest. This is not always the case. The most recent example of things not quite being what they seem came from the recent CBS News investigation into the Wounded […]
It’s rare that male readers weigh in on the topic of fertility health and society’s response to the marketing of ‘fertility’ treatments. Such an occurrence introduced an added jolt to my morning coffee. More refreshing still were the “ah-has” that accompanied the insight-laden comment (a blog post unto itself really). Let’s annotate his comment further. […]
In a powerful new essay, Questioning the Cult of Repro Tech, health advocate and author Miriam Zoll reveals little publicized details behind today’s now seemingly ubiquitous fertility procedure: in vitro fertilization (IVF). Her research and writing make for a compelling read. Zoll raises important questions about bioethics and the way fertility medicine is marketed and […]
My reaction to the picture distributed by the fertility clinic was shock. Plain and simple. In fact, my stomach turned queasy while my mind tried to process just what exactly I was looking at. The first word that popped to mind: Addiction The breathless articles, though, on what led to the now ‘viral’ photograph […]