Labor promises $32m public IVF fund, as report urges cheaper fertility treatments, surrogacy compensation

The Labor party has promised to create a fund that would subsidise costly fertility treatments after an independent IVF report released today urged public clinics be considered to compete with expensive private operators.

THE LABOR party has promised to create a fund that would subsidise costly fertility treatments.

The $32 million fund would establish public IVF services that will also work with a regional health service.

While the Health Complaints Commissioner will be tasked with cracking down on unethical IVF providers who oversell success rates and don’t divulge full costs upfront.

WOMEN AGED 40 AND OVER MAKE UP A QUARTER OF IVF CLIENTS

IVF STUDY TO TEST IF MALE INFERTILITY CAN BE PASSED THROUGH ICSI

BLOOD TEST COULD PREDICT IVF SUCCESS

Compensation to surrogates has been recommended as part of an overhaul of the fertility industry.

A rule which gives a former partner veto to women accessing her own eggs will also be aboloished if Labor is re-elected.

The measures were on the back of an independent IVF report released today.

The review into the state’s Assisted Reproductive Treatment practices also criticised the current “light touch” safeguards in place to protect patients, calling for a more responsive regulator to keep commercial operators in check.

An independent interim report last month delivered to the state government outlines recommendations to clean up the industry and alter discriminatory wording in laws in order to increase access for LGBTIQ people.

The report, by independent reviewer Michael Gorton, stops short endorsing commercialised surrogacy but recommends the payment of “reasonable costs” including loss of earnings, out-of-pocket and travel expenses to be made for those carrying another person’s child.

As skyrocketing costs are the biggest barrier to fertility treatments for many people, the review urges public clinics be considered to compete with expensive private operators.

Mr Gorton pushed for trained nurses to be able to administer artificial insemination, as well as:

CHANGES to laws forcing married woman seeking ART to gain consent from their husband when they are separated

ALLOWING women to use a dead partner’s sperm or egg if they have written consent;

INTRODUCING safeguards for whistleblowers;

AND information sharing between authorities so incidents cannot be swept under the carpet.

The interim report, seen by the Herald Sun, raises concerns about patient care not adequately addressed by the thriving commercial industry.

“There remain ongoing concerns about the adequacy of oversight of quality and safety, and the impact of increased corporatisation and expansion of the sector,” Mr Gordon found.

“The weight of opinion that patient experience is being adversely affected by some business and clinical practices warrants further consideration.

“Furthermore, the review has heard credible and significant evidence that breaches of the Act and risks to patient safety are not always identified and/or appropriately acted upon.”

A technician checks the in vitro fertilisation process.

During the review it was revealed a woman had her life saved by MICA paramedics after a clinic failed to acknowledge her deteriorating condition between cycles. The woman is too scared to complain because the clinic is still storing her embryos.

A whistleblower reported several incidents whereby a clinic accidentally destroyed patients’ embryos, but concealed the tragedies.

Mr Gorton will continue a more in-depth examination into Medicare rebates for fertility preservation for those over 40, the use of egg freezing services aimed at halting a woman’s biological clock and the establishment of an egg bank.

A final report will be presented to the government next April.

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