Well, my last few posts have generated quite a bit of empassioned feedback from “infertility consultants” defending the need for “professional educators” to fill the void they feel left by clinical teams, attorneys, mental health providers etal in giving patients/clients a solid understanding of alternative family building options and issues.
I returned yesterday from the RESOLVE of the Bay State […]

Are we meeting the needs of patients/clients to comprehensively educate or is their a void w/in which uncredentialed service providers (i.e. Independent Infertility Consultants) are now marketing (and charging for) services we, as licensed professionals should be providing?
As a long-term patient advocate (beginning my career in infertility working on complex legislative matters regarding insurance coverage for […]

Over the past 12-18 months there has been a buzz, made all the more loud by a recent episode of Oprah, regarding American couples going abroad, mostly to India, to pursue family building at what is being billed as a cost savings. At both the American Fertility Association conference and yesterday’s American Academy of Adoption Attorneys […]

This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting with and advising more than several prospective parents about the choices they are faced with when pursuing alternative family building. Even though many of these folks came to hear me talk about egg donation, we began one round-table discussion comparing the choice of collaborative conception over […]

I recently read a beautifully written and perfectly balanced essay on donor compensation at: http://www.docshop.com/2007/11/13/miracle-or-madness-the-light-and-dark-sides-of-donating-eggs-for-money/. Often when clients first contact me they are concerned, perhaps even worried about the costs of family building through egg donation, even in my state of Massachusetts where often the clinical fees for the In Vitro Cycle, itself is covered by […]

Today, like many days, my voice-mailbox is full, my calendar booked, my e-mail refreshes frequently with requests from women, men and couples faced with significant infertility. They contact me hoping for my assistance to identify, for them, a healthy fertile woman willing to share her fertility to assist them in successful family building. They are […]

As you would imagine, the recent Chicago Tribune article wherein I discussed the challenges ethnic Intended Parents face prompted much debate and dialogue. Yes, the article’s premise is one which all professionals in our field are all too aware…but really, there is a broader discussion to be had.
Why? Why are their fewer donors than hopeful parents-to-be? […]

Yes, there is!…there, I’ve said it emphatically but have reason to pause and wonder, why are we limiting our discussion to ethnic donors?
On February 26th I, along with Prospective Families, got mention in a Chicago Tribune article entitled “Ethnic couples face difficulty finding egg donors”…an absolutely valid point and a real-life circumstance that I attribute […]

..and I invite our colleagues, clients, the donors we work with, friends and all others with commentary about egg donation to blog along with me as I share my perspective on collaborative reproduction. The canvas is blank not only for me but for the practice of egg donation, generally. In a field that is widely unregulated, ever-changing with […]