Young Women Exploited In Egg Donation Process, Bioethecist Says
By Theresa M. Erickson
By Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
TIBURON, CALIFORNIA (ANS) – Stanford University student Calla Papademus answered an ad offering $50,000 for egg “donation” that sounded like easy money. She didn’t realize the risks of egg harvesting, suffered a stroke, and spent more than six weeks in a coma. Having survived a narrow brush with death, she now regrets her ill-informed decision.
“They’re targeting young women,” says Jennifer Lahl, founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture. “Young women assume when they go into a medical clinic to donate their eggs, the clinic has their best interests at heart,” she says. “But young women are not being informed of the risks.” Harvested eggs from young collegiates—especially those with high SAT scores and the right skin color—sell for a premium to wealthy infertile couples as well as human cloning researchers. Women often receive more than $5,000 per donation.
At puberty, girls have a finite supply of eggs—anywhere from 400-500 will be available during their reproductive life span which are slowly depleted during the natural aging process. Egg harvesting removes up to 40 eggs at a time. Some young women—motivated by financial need—undergo the procedure multiple times, which places themselves at risk of infertility later in life.
Currently, there is no monitoring or regulation of the number of times a woman may donate eggs. “An egg donor walks out of a clinic and falls off the face of the earth,” Lahl notes. One woman—Julia Derek, admitted to donating eggs 12 times in her book “Confessions of a Serial Egg Donor.”
To harvest the eggs, women go through a procedure known as ovarian hyperstimulation. For two weeks, women inject themselves with fertility drugs such as Lupron or Pergonal daily. Extracting the eggs involves a surgical procedure at a clinic, where an ultrasound probe guides a 12-inch needle into each ovary. There is a risk of puncturing or lacerating surrounding tissues, which can lead to acute ovarian trauma, infection, infertility, and vaginal bleeding.
Surprisingly, the drugs used in ovarian hyperstimulation procedures are not approved by the FDA for this use. “Lupron, the drug most commonly used for ovarian hyperstimulation, is FDA approved for prostate cancer,” according to Lahl, but not for ovarian hyperstimulation. “Women are having strokes and organ failures and dying,” she says. “Maybe we should stop and see what’s going on here.”
Complications of the procedure are known as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS).
In testimony before the Massachusetts State Legislature last year, Dr. Pia de Solenni, Ph.D. outlined the risks: “Complications from the procedure include a potential link to ovarian cysts and cancers, severe pelvic pain, rupture of the ovaries, stroke, possible negative effects on future fertility, and even death.”
A 32-year-old Irish woman died in February 2003 from complications of OHSS. Two other women in the UK had severe complications. One collapsed and died at a bus stop while undergoing ovarian hyperstimulation. The other had several strokes which left her brain damaged and in need of long-term care.
“In clinical studies using Pergonal for ovarian hyperstimulation, 2.4-5.5 percent of women developed complications,” noted Dr. de Solenni in her testimony. “Similarly, the FDA’s data on Lupron, another drug used for ovarian hyperstimulation, records a death rate of .5 percent.”
Lahl argues these percentages—even if small—merit further investigation. “It’s not a common occurrence that women die from this,” she notes. “But we need to understand the short and long-term risk.”
“How many times can a woman do this—every single month?” she asks. “We’re playing with fire here. We don’t have to agree on the rights of the unborn, but we do need to be mindful of women’s health and safety.”
Posted in Blog, Egg Donation | (18) Comments/Questions
Egg donation is practiced safely in South Africa where a donor is stimulated for only 7 eggs. I have an egg donor program and will not recruit donors in the USA where the mentality of “more is better” exists. South Africa also has regulations on number of donations allowed. As an egg donor program we discourage donors after 3 or earlier, depending on how they do. South African clinics have success rates similar to USA. Some clinics in Venezuela and Canada also practice safe stimulation of the donor.
These donors are altruistic as their reimbursement for time and discomfort is capped by the government and very low.($750) We help them to understand what a Gift of Life they have given long after the procedure is over. They are not dropped.
I wish this article had reported all the facts of these tragic donations, as they make it appear as if egg donation in general is unsafe, which is not true.
Kind regards, Robin Newman
http://www.renewfertilty.com
I was thinking about donating my eggs , but after reading your article it makes me think twice about even doing it. I have all the children I plan on having, one girl and twin boys. i wanted to help others have the opportunity that God gave me. I would still like to help others, but I sure do not want to have any negative side effects, to put it lightly. Is there a trust worthy place in the US or even California, where I live? Thank you for opening my eyes to what could have been a potentially deadly experience. Every woman thinking about donating for money is doing it for the wrong reasons, they need to read this eye opening article. Thank you again.
You have pointed out a serious issue. I did not know these facts before reading this article.
it helps both parties whats the problem with it?
Thanks for sharing such a useful facts. The was not aware these dangers before.
The problem of infertility is a Social one that affects women and men all over the world. From your article, it appears that there is nothing beneficial from donating your eggs. I beg to disagree with you. The donors are doing a great good for the couples who cannot have children. Most website that publishes egg donor most often than none have lots and lots of information for both the donor and the recipient and also, i believe that if anyone wants to donate, they must also seek to enrich themselves with all the facts and not to think about the finiancial benefits only. I am aware that no matter the amount of money given could compensate the donor, it is the fact that they have given another woman/man hope that is fulfilling at the end of the day.
Just to correct the first comment above, South African egg donors are (obviously) not stimmed to produce “only 7 eggs,” however South African fertility clinics do adopt a protocol of slow, low and gentle stims when it comes to egg donors. The emphasis is on a safe and reasonable number of good quality eggs rather than an aggressive protocol that might not be safe for the donor.
Tertia Albertyn
Nurture Egg Donor Program
South Africa
http://www.nurture.co.za
I just donated for te 3rd time and it will be my last. Egg donation clinics. I was monitored very carefully, I had to go in the clinic everyday for bloodwork and ultrasound to make sure I was not over-stimulating. I did not get any complications or bleeding. I felt very safe and comfortable during all 3 donations, the only reason I will not do this anymore is because I think 3 donations is already enough. I really will have to disagree with your article.
I just donated for the 3rd time and it will be my last. All Egg donation clinics monitored me very carefully, I had to go in the clinic everyday for bloodwork and ultrasound to make sure I was not over-stimulating. I did not get any complications or bleeding. I felt very safe and comfortable during all 3 donations, the only reason I will not do this anymore is because I think 3 donations is already enough. I really will have to disagree with your article.
Egg donation retrieval is a medical surgical procedure, like all medical procedures there are risks, you just have to look at the ratios. Hundreds of thousands of womens if not millions donate every year, how many actually die or have complications? Maybe not even a 1%
My wife and I have been to India for Surrogacy with Dr. Nayna Patel and have put together a 40 page booklet of information for those looking at IVF/Surrogacy in India. See our website at http://www.ourindiaivf.com if you are interested.
Egg donation in South Africa is undertaken with great care, diligence and professionalism. South African egg donors are stimulated to produce eggs during an egg donor cycle. During the time that the eggs are being produced, the donor is carefully monitored to check the follicle and egg development. The prescribing doctor may at that stage reduce or increase medication based on the egg donor’s response. Egg donors typcially produce any thing from 0 – 25 eggs – entirely dependent on their own circumstances. So whilst comment cannot be made for any where else, egg donation in South Africa is entirely safe.
baby2mom Egg Donation and Surrogacy Programme
http://www.baby2mom.co.za
Egg donation in South Africa is safe, the donor gets monitored very carefully to avoid overproduction of eggs and they use safe drugs to stimulate egg production. This article is very wrong. I donated once and never got those side effects or complications. Doctors at the clinic treat a donor well and they don’t just drop you after donating, you have to go for check ups after a month to make sure that you doing well. This article is just discouraging potential donors.
I am currently in the process of research, in order to make a documentary on egg donation. I would like to hear from both donors and recipients who would like to participate in such a doccie. It would be great especially to include a recipient couple or single mum who has just started the process, or is about to start the process..the documentary intends to look at egg donation from various angles and viewpoints. If you are interested in documenting yur journey you can let me know and you are welcome to contcat me via mail.
Hi. For documentary participants: Mail address: magnette@iafrica.com
I donated 6 times within a 6-7 year period. The first time I produced 58 eggs! It was very uncomfortable. I was asked to do it again and initially said no. They promised to lower the meds so I agreed. No problems for the next 4. I was actually asked back for a family who concieved-what a rush! I’m not having children, why not share?
The money helped also. The last time all was well until after retrieval. A few hours later I could not get off the couch, was screaming in pain and after calling the clinic was told to be brought in for a pain killing shot. I was afraid if I got up I would pass out, throw up , pass gas and soil myself. Profuse sweating and horrible bloating/pain. I was off work for a week. I was told my ovary had most likely twisted and to rest or come in if it didn’t get better. That was the last time. Now I worry about future health problems. Info is all over the map. I thought it would be nice to help, and you do work for the compensation which was significantly less than what is being paid now. I hope the child/children are healthy and the mother also. Definately an experience.
Thanks,
Jakki.
I’m about to start the medicines, I want to donate but now I’m having second thoughts. I want to hear what you guys have to say. Thank you.
Some of these “facts” are misleading, which makes me wonder if I can trust the others. First, it is true that a woman only has about 400-500 eggs that mature—about one a month during fertile years. But a woman has about 300,000 eggs post-puberty. The stimulation procedure causes more eggs to mature in a cycle, so instead of 1, you may get 15-20. These eggs would not have matured otherwise. You make it seem that donors lose 40/400 eggs, which sounds like a lot. It is more like 15-20 doran average cycle, out of 300,000. You worded that very carefully to create a false impression.
I am a 4x egg donor. Donors in the U.S. are almost always provided with their own lawyer, a counselor/therapist, they are heavily tested for physical and mental health, informed of the risks (which are the same risks any woman who undergoes this procedure for IVF faces, there are some but they are rare, and hundreds of thousands of women have had the procedure over the past 25 years with no ill effects.) They have different motivations, and usually money isn’t the primary factor. I donated because I do not plan to have children and I want to know that I helped someone have a child. The money helped greatly with my tuition, and I’m glad for the opportunity. Any donor or would be donor can research the process herself and decide if it is worth it to her. And she’ll not get through the first step without having all of that information read to her and explained in great detail. Women aren’t idiots, they can make educated decisions. Anyone who thinks otherwise is perpetuating the sexist idea that women need to be protected from themselves. This process helps infertile couples, and a lot of good comes from it on all sides. That there are a few scattered tragic results doesn’t justify telling adults that they aren’t allowed to make their own decisions on such personal matters.