Dr Siun Gallagher1
1The University Of Sydney
Despite recent technological advances, the proportion of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles that result in babies being born has declined. In order to try to increase their chances of success, patients are often offered ‘add-ons’ – non-essential procedures, techniques or medications that are added to basic IVF protocols but that do not (yet) have sufficient evidence to be considered part of standard care. The use of add-ons is controversial, with critics arguing that they exploit patients and generate false hope, and supporters arguing that they facilitate innovation and might, in fact, increase success rates.
As part of an NHMRC Ideas grant-funded project examining the impact of commercialisation on assisted reproductive technology (ART), we interviewed 31 Australian and New Zealander ART industry experts, including fertility specialists, embryologists, and regulators.
In this presentation we report on how participants discussed add-ons, focusing on the factors that coalesce to determine whether using a given add-on may be morally justified. Our results reveal that factors relating to the intervention itself, to the patient, and to providers all influence clinical decisions. We discuss our findings with reference to norms that have been established in the ART field for the use of add-ons and suggest strategies to enhance ethical decision-making in this setting.
Biography:
Siun Gallagher is a postdoctoral researcher at Sydney Health Ethics. Her work focuses on the ethical and professional challenges medical clinicians experience in the face of rising clinical and health system complexity.