Fertility clinics are overusing a laboratory technique and costing infertile couples and some insurers hundreds of extra dollars, a new study suggests. At issue is a procedure that injects a single sperm into an egg. The method is considered the best option for couples in which the man has defective sperm or extremely low sperm counts.
But many clinics are using it for other infertile couples, even though it often doesn't work as well as the standard lab dish method, according to a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Sperm injection adds about $1,500 to the $12,400 average cost of an in vitro fertilization treatment cycle, the authors said.
"This paper is particularly troubling because we've got a major shift in practice that isn't evidence driven. The paper suggests it may be driven by money," said Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics.
Read more: "Study suggests fertility clinics overuse costly lab technique" - http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2007/07/19/2007-07-19_study_suggests_fertility_clinics_overuse-1.html?ref=rss#ixzz0EPIvSZZV&A
MyFertilityPlan.com
