Editor’s view: Qld women deserve answers over latest horror IVF claims

Queensland women deserve swift and comprehensive answers – and the guarantee a flawed system will be fixed – after more horrific allegations have surfaced around assisted reproductive treatment.

Queensland women deserve swift and comprehensive answers – and the guarantee a flawed system will be fixed – after more horrific allegations have surfaced around assisted reproductive treatment.

One male sperm donor is suspected to have fathered at least 1000 children, sparking guilt and dread for one mother that her kids will forever have to “fight off the fear of incest”.

Shannon Ashton, a mum of five born to “super donator” number 188, says she is wracked with guilt and feels physically sick of what her children stand to go through for the rest of their lives.

She says they will need to get background checks on anyone they are even remotely interested in to ensure they are not related.

Two other devastated women who’ve come forward cannot be named for legal reasons but the latest furore throws a harsh spotlight on Queensland’s problematic assisted reproductive treatment (ART) system.

Rightly, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has responded quickly after meeting this week with the trio, vowing to wipe out industry “cowboys”.

Queensland Minister for Health, Mental Health, and Ambulance Services Shannon Fentiman has responded quickly. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Ms Fentiman has ordered the Health Ombudsman to probe the conduct of clinics that provide ART, and has promised that by 2024 Queensland will come into line with NSW and Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory with its ART legislation.

Currently, the state’s clinics operate without any legislation.

The three women obtained donor semen freezing data through the Freedom of Information Act and were disgusted to learn the data revealed extreme numbers of donations by single donors.

Ms Ashton said Donor 188 donated 239 times in just four years and as many as 16 ampoules could be made from one specimen in one day.

More than one embryo can also be created from one ampoule.

Queensland regulations allow one donor to help 10 families.

This is not the first time ART in Queensland has come under deserved fire.

In July this year, The Courier-Mail revealed Anastasia and Lexie Gunn were suing the high profile Queensland Fertility Group, claiming the wrong sperm was used to conceive two of their sons through IVF.

The women say their family has been destroyed as they believed for years their three sons were biological siblings. They also have no clue who is the actual donor father.

As well as the Gunns’ multimillion-dollar claim in the Supreme Court, at least one other family is planning to take legal action against QFG over “wrong sperm” allegations.

Turning to IVF and assisted reproductive treatments is usually the last resort for people desperate to be parents.

There is a huge amount of emotion, stress and vulnerability involved. Not to mention money, and lots of it.

Queenslanders should be able to have complete confidence that seeking treatment in this state is properly regulated and that their wellbeing and that of their offspring is paramount.

They should not have to find out after the fact, and through their own private investigations, that they have not been fairly and transparently dealt with.

Ms Fentiman’s vow to have the largely unregulated industry probed – and subsequent positive action taken – cannot come quickly enough.

Originally published as Editor’s view: Qld women deserve answers over latest horror IVF claims