Should Women Aged 40 To 42 And Lesbians Get Fertility Treatment Free Of Charge?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281402/5-000-children-father-born-fertility-treatment-And-lesbians-IVF-taxpayer.html

/// And – despite fears the cash-strapped health service cannot afford extra burdens – women in same-sex relationships with proven infertility will also be able to get free IVF. Up until now, lesbian couples have had to pay privately for such treatment. ///

[DTCwordfan]

I had never thought about a turkey baster as a sex toy (alba). I must write a sex novel and include that idea "50 Shades on the Kitchen Table".

I agree with the "a woman is a woman" whatever her orientation comments.

I agree that there have to be limits on budgets and that the NHS is not a wish service, rather one for the ill.

I agree on the scroungers and the sooner this government brings in legislation that prevents immigrants from signing on and getting all these benefits for, say, a year or two, the sooner the better. Of course we should reciprocate when we have a genuine case of an injury or illness occurring when here as a tourist visiting the country.

So overall, let them pay for IVF above a certain age just as with transsexual operations - of course there may be exceptions such as injury or whatever when they were known to be trying, but these can be handled by a review panel.

[joko]

perhaps it should depend on why they need it - if theres no medical reason preventing pregnancy, and its just because of bad luck and timing etc and they want to hurry it along because they are getting older, then no, but if their infertility is down to a medical problem and they have been trying for years, then yes, why not?

it would be treating the symptoms of a medical problem...

i have PCOs and have always assumed i would have kids one day but knew id likely need IVF...and ive always been aware of the notion that i may never have them, however now, at 41, i cant say i am all that bothered about it. the only worry i have is what if i regret it once its too late, but thats not really a very good reason to have a child, is it?
get one in quick before its too late, 'just in case'...

perhaps there should be some kind of 'help' for those, where they pay half or something

[WELSHYORKIE]

Like Sqad, I think this will end up as a postcode lottery as many things are now becoming in Wales. However, I think for people like joko where there is a medical problem then that should be on the NHS. Other cases i.e. lifestyle pregnancies should, I believe, be paid for privately

[BRIGHT SPARK]

If they can't afford the treatment how can they afford the kids....or am I being silly/

[baza]

imo a woman is a woman no matter which teams she bats for, age limit 45 as I think they get past their sell by date then.
as for plastic surgery, I know of a severly burnt man who requires a lot of work done, as a result of an accident? no, he nicked a car, hot wired it, and it caught fire , does he deserve NHS treatment, who is to judge?

[Zeuhl]

/whereas male homosexual couples are forced to adopt complete strangers. /

No they're not aog

Have you never heard of sperm donations? That is how IVF works you know.
And have you never heard of surrogate mothers?

[sp1814]

AOG

Again nope:

male homosexual couples are forced to adopt complete strangers

Gay men can have kids without adopting.

[LoftyLottie]

Oh dear Baza. At the age of 65 what am I then? - not a woman, not a man, I am now in turmoil.

Bright Spark you have a good point. However, Kids cost a fortune ONCE THEY ARRIVE and for at least 18 years. However, most people don't have to save up to buy one. You should however, in my opinion, have an element of financial security by means of employment and a roof over your head.

[albaqwerty]

My mother was 42 when she had me (naturally, no ivf involved) does that mean that I shoudln't be here?

Lottie, you're right about the financial security, but life does throw curve balls.

[LoftyLottie]

It does Alba, I degree. But you have to have a starting point that is at least secure in my opinion. There have been times after having my child where we haven't been secure but then you just have to get on with it. It's when people have kids without any thought of how they are going to manage that I think it is wrong. I was an older Mum, a week off 36.

[Barmaid]

If the question is "should fertility treatment be given on the NHS", my answer is no. Whilst it saddens me that as an infertile woman of 42 (for medical reasons) I cannot get fertility treatment, I do think there are more important areas where money can be spent.

If the question is "should fertility treatment be given to women between 40 and 42 or to lesbians" - the answer is the same. No. However, were we to live in utopia where the NHS has a bottomless pit of money, there is no earthly reason whatsoever why women in those classes should be discriminated against.

And probably one of the reasons the health service is so cash strapped is that despite paying fortunes for managers and management consultants, most of them couldn't manage their way out of a wet paper bag. A new hospital near me has been roundly criticised by the Public Accounts Committee for the fact that it is pretty much bankrupt. Meanwhile the old hospital which stands on a bit of prime real estate is standing derelict (no doubt costing a fortune in insurance and security) when any fool should have realised TEN YEARS AGO that it would be obselete by 2010 and they needed to thinking about realising the asset.

[LoftyLottie]

I degree?????? 'agree'

[LoftyLottie]

Barmaid, why do I always wish I had written your posts. I agree with everything you say, almost 100? But you are more eloquent than I xx

[LoftyLottie]

That situation near you (and fairly near me) is diabolical. Unbelievable, in fact.

[sp1814]

Why is IVF so expensive???

[albaqwerty]

knew what you meant Lottie, :-)

Wish the NHS would get shot of the 'managers' who can't manage anything other than how to unwrap their own sandwich at lunchtime

[LoftyLottie]

I am still in shock after discovering I am no longer a woman :o(

[bednobs]

i have such conflicting views on ivf being provided on the NHS. I though i would never get pregnant, but i also thought that i would never want IVF. After my daughter was stillborn, (after 9 years of trying to get PG with her) i wondered if i'd ever get pg again, and briefly considered IVF. At 36 i was already past the age that my PCT would (then) pay for IVF for people, so would have had to save up £5000 at least, which would have been doable after a long while (all the while my chances of successful ivf decreasing because of advancing age) I never expected or thought that my local NHS should have paid,

However, because IVF has such a low success rate, it must be heartbreaking to pay over all that much money (>£8000 in the case of iui or where pre-conception genetic testing is required) and get nothing in return

[albaqwerty]

sp, I think, only think, it's to do with the number of professionals and the cost of keeping 'things# frozen' then introduced, plus the cost of drugs to the lady involved.

[joggerjayne]

Should lesbians get NHS fertility treatment?

The down side that I see is that one of the pair is the child's real, biological mother. She has a biological bond with the child, and with the child's donor biological father, from which the other female partner is excluded.

In decisions affecting the child's upbringing, one partner is too easily overruled, because they are not the child's real parent.

Whereas if a lesbian couple adopt a child, both partners have an equal relationship as adoptive "parents".

So maybe they should be encouraged to adopt?

But in general terms, regarding infertility treatment, although we seem to regard having children as an absolute right, and an absolute necessity, maybe some people just have to accept that with the way things have worked out in their lives, they are not going to have children (eg me).

On the plus side, at least your winkie doesn't get traumatised.