Our fertility industry is a mess. As a donor, I know what could fix it
It pains me to say Australia's fertility industry is a mess because it's a system into which I've donated sperm to create humans, in good faith.
You'd hope, after the notorious malpractice of past practitioners, the industry – which insists it's reformed from those bad old days – would enforce the strictest of procedures and the most watertight regulation. Sadly not. The profit-driven industry regulates itself, which is proving problematic, to say the least.
Staff report being burnt out enough to make mistakes, and the mistakes have emerged with alarming pace in recent weeks. Monash IVF has twice transferred the wrong embryo into a woman. The first time, reported in April, experts said that, while it was worrying, it was an extremely rare, isolated case of human error. Then it happened again last month.
My own investigation this week revealed two leading Australian fertility clinics – both owned by Virtus Health – are sending sperm donors inaccurate lists of the children born from their donation. Donors are being introduced to children who are potentially not even biologically theirs. Melbourne IVF sent one donor the wrong child list three times. He's now distressed the kids he has formed relationships with aren't related to him.
While voices calling for calm seek to reassure us that Australia remains a very safe place to receive fertility treatment, try telling that to the anguished and conflicted donors who spoke to me. Or to the two women who gave birth to children who aren't theirs.
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These problems are the tip of the iceberg too. The fertility industry is a bureaucratic quagmire, and it feels like it is now in crisis. It is governed by more than 40 pieces of differing state legislation in nine jurisdictions. It should be governed by a statutory, nationally applicable set of regulations.
Urgent changes are clearly needed, which is why a rapid review of the industry was announced by federal Health Minister Mark Butler. He has his work cut out. The most important stakeholders he must listen to are donor-conceived people themselves – the humans created from this industry. They have a set of requests he should prioritise above all others.
But as a donor, if we could add one urgent thing to his to-review list, it would be this. Clinics should build in and pay for DNA testing of donors and the children born from their donations as part of their later matching procedures.
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