Vulnerable would-be parents being sold 'false hope' by overseas IVF clinics, regulator warns
By Alex Matthews-King,
The Independent
| 04. 13. 2018
People hoping to be parents in the UK are being sold “false hope” by foreign IVF clinics claiming success rates as high as 98 per cent based on highly selective data, the national fertility regulator has warned.
These clinics are exhibiting at UK events for couples considering fertility treatment and making claims that no UK IVF provider would be allowed to make, said Sally Cheshire, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
The regulator said it was powerless to regulate overseas clinics, while fertility experts said some clinics are capitalising on the hopes of vulnerable people and could be dangerous if they led with these inflated claims of success.
HFEA data on UK clinics in 2016 shows that for women under the age of 35 – who have the best odds of getting pregnant through IVF – on average each round of embryo implantation has just a 32.5 per cent chance.
But one Cyprus clinic, part of the international fertility group Bahceci, says on its website: “We have up to 97.82 per cent pregnancy rates thanks to the...
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