embryo domation

Hi, We have 4 frozern embryo and although we want to donate why do they make it so cost prohibitive. We have done 5 cycles of IVF and are lucky to have 3 lovely children the last lot twins of 2 1/2 years. We are really happy to donate but with costs of around 5k and the fact that we have already spend 35k on treatment , you think that there would be a way of making donating easier it seems like the money grapping never stops

Hi, wow, 5k. How do they justify those costs? I have 2 blasts left and we have 2 lovely sons from our IVF journey and we are still unsure whether we will go through another pregnancy or not as we had massive dramas to my health during pregnancy and prem babies so not sure whether to risk that happening again so we had in our minds about donating as well. But we definitely can't afford that!

That sounds crazy! Yes you have to meet the people you are donating to, and I think it needs to go through the ethics committee as well, and I think all parties need counselling and police checks. Quite an involved process unfortunately, maybe that is why it is so pricey.

I'm sure the couple you donate to would be completely willing to pay the costs for you. Or is that not allowed?

I know that with surrogacy, you can cover direct costs for the donor, but aren't allowed to pay anything that might even be a bit non-specific (like time off work, and stuff like that). I imagine embryo donation would be the same?

I'd also love to see a breakdown of what they charge and why they charge it. I would like to imagine that all costs are 'real', someone's not making money out of it... I do suppose that you have to pay members of ethics committees who consider this stuff, but five grand does seem a lot, assuming the couple recieving the embryo are covering the medical side of things for them...