Should ART Proceedures be Legislated?
Posted on February 23, 2009
Thanks to the woman who had the octuplets there is discussion about whether or not Assisted Reproductive Technologies should be legislated by the government. Somehow I don’t think they are talking about insurance mandates.
Currently the ART industry is self-regulated. Sure, cases brought against “bad” doctors, but for the most part the Reproductive Endocrinologist report their data to the Center for Disease Control that is summarized in the annual ASRM (American Society for Reproductive Medicine) reports. ASRM and the CDC are aware, assuming the REs present the facts honestly, of the number of embryos transferred during an IVF based on the age and other demographics of their patient population.
I think federal or state legislation is a bad idea, unless it is drafted to include insurance coverage. Which I doubt will be considered. For the feds to legislate the guidelines that are already in place for RE’s isn’t going to help the inferile community or reduce the occurence of high-order multiples (unless they disallow IUIs). Will it prevent another set of octuplets? Probably not. I guarantee many REs are being very cautious about their current practices with IVF. Its unlikely there will be a story like this again, ever.
Dr. Phil is talking about it? Bill O’Riley stated it’s his mission to get this industry regulated (or so I heard).
What are your opinions?
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