The answer is cost.
Because the costly treatment isn’t often covered by insurance, doctors are sometimes pressured by patients to implant more than one embryo per cycle.
Since a single cycle can cost as much as $12,000, and those who aren’t successful often keep on trying, the cost of having a baby can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As this reproductive endocrinologist recounts, one woman pressured him to implant eight embryos, but “made her sign an agreement that she would do selective reduction.”
Are such agreements enforceable? Likely not, but it’s another interesting issue that’s come up in light of the recent media spotlight on multiple births.
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{ 3 comments }
correct me if I’m wrong. But the $12,000 is likely the cost of the egg retrieval + implantation and not necessarliy the implantation.
If you have the frozen embryos, it is far less costly to implant them. I would assume a couple $2000 as opposed to the $12,000 or more.
“Are such agreements enforceable? Likely not,”
Definitely not. You can contract about money and certain liability issues, but an agreement to submit to selective reduction is not enforceable.
Shame on you, the proper term is transfer, not implant. I expect more from you.
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