An IVF Groupon?

Posted by Osagie Obasogie November 10, 2011
Biopolitical Times

The recent Groupon IPO has brought new attention to the value of internet-based marketing that leverages social media and word-of-mouth to grow businesses in new markets. This has worked well for small retailers like spas and clothing stores trying to bring in new customers. Some practitioners have used Groupon for elective procedures such as cosmetic surgery and teeth whitening. But is this an appropriate model for reproductive medicine?

The South Florida Sun Sentinel recently published an article on the growing number of fertility doctors using Groupon-esque tactics to market their services. Rather than offering a discounted coupon to a group of individuals if a certain threshold is met, doctors are doing things such as giving away a round of IVF to the individual who can get the most number of people to ‘like’ their Facebook pages.

Some patients and providers see this as a harmless opportunity to promote their business and to possibly give the winner access to an expensive procedure that they might otherwise not be able to afford. Others have raised strong ethical concerns. For example, medical ethicist Bob Spaeth notes that such IVF contests are “highly unethical  . . . [because they] trivialize human life.”

It’s unclear whether Facebook contests or a future of Groupons for reproductive procedures are ethical. But, the frivolity latent in these approaches certainly belies the seriousness of the endeavor.