Who Advocates for You?

The problem with infertility (among many, admittedly), is that it can cloud your thinking. You want this so badly. It is hard to differentiate between clinics who will help you get what you want and those that just want your money.
There are a lot of fantastic doctors out there, but there are also lots of horrendous ones, too. This is an industry that is not regulated at all. What you can't get on Google is whether an agency is going to push you toward using an egg donor so that clinic can boost its stats. A new industry – fertility consultants – have emerged as an alternative to randomly picking a doc from the ‘net.

And some docs aren’t too happy about it . "I would consider it a failure if a patient thought they needed a fee-for-service fertility consultant," says Dr. Laurence Udoff, a reproductive endocrinologist with Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax. In an interview with the Washington Times this week, he said "A fertility clinic should address all the needs of their patients. This should include emotional [and/or] psychological support and assistance understanding financial issues related to infertility treatment. At GIVF, we either have specific personnel available to address these issues one on one or can refer a patient/couple to the appropriate place. Our staff - nurses, doctors, coordinators - consider themselves patient advocates and will work closely with patients to help them achieve their goals."
The question to ask is this: if the doc’s staff are being paid by the doc, who are they truly advocating for – the one who signs their checks, or the patient?