Checking the right fertility clinic abroad

So far no country in the world has an established governing body that ensures collection of reliable data about the success rates of fertility clinics. Most clinics are rather beating the drum of success as a part of their marketing exercise. It is thus advocated that you ask for positive pregnancy test rates and the clinical pregnancy rates as well where the fetus responds with a clinched heart beat.

Clinics working on foreign patients often fail to verify the live birth rates in spite of all their good intentions simply because these patients never report back how things panned out for them. This is the primary reason for clinics not being able to report live birth rates. Now in this fast and competitive world where information is the key driver to organizational success who would wait for live births to be reported back by customers? The easiest way out is to report the clinical pregnancy rates which is instant and always more than actual live birth rates helping the clinic ride on a comfortable growth ladder.

Verified statistics are tough to find in most countries but one should do a fair judgment without getting impressed by tall claims. Clinics posting a realistic success rate can be relied upon as it reveals their ethical practice to some extent. A medical consultant or a fertility tourism facilitator generally can provide better clarity in facts and figures.

While deciding upon the country and clinic to explore for studying birth rate success, it is imperative to have a glimpse of country’s legislative framework that governs its operations.
It is quite obvious that legal confinements vary not only from one country to other but even from clinic to clinic for that matter.

These legal mandates based upon a particular country’s social, political and economic structure have their impact upon the operating procedures of a fertility clinic. Now the million dollar question is how the clinics elucidate these laws and execute them in running their day to day operations is a matter to ponder over. You can get enough information regarding the legal mandates from the government regulated websites.

The most common restrictions are as follows:
– Does the country’s legal framework approve egg donation services?

-Does the country have restrictions for traditional and gestational surrogacy?
– Do the donors involved in the egg donation process have a valid identity and registration or are they anonymous who could never be traced in the future?
– What type of clients would the clinic treat -singles, unmarried, straight and gay? Or do they have reservations for a specific class of clients?
– Do both the partners need to come for treatment?
– Is there any age bar for patients undergoing treatment?
– Are there restrictions imposed upon the number of embryos that can be transferred?
– Do they allow frozen sperms belonging to the biological father or a donor to be transferred overseas to a laboratory for fertilization of eggs?
– What would be the fate of the excess embryos leftover?
-Do the embryos belonging to you can be used later? Can they be further donated to someone known to you?
-Can they be donated to another family hiding your identity so that the family could reap the benefit?
-Can they be shipped back to your domestic country?
-Can they be donated for research and development in human embryology and reproduction science?
-Under what conditions can they be destroyed?
-What would be the fate of forsaken embryos?
– Do they have options for setting the family equilibrium (like PGD for sex selection)
– Can you go for legal gestational surrogacy? Can you get an approval for it as a medical requirement?

Experienced and qualified facilitators play a crucial role in finding out the right IVF clinic but you can put forward the following queries or do self research or seek your home country’s fertility specialist who maintain the updates of global fertility treatment issues.

Some common queries that instantly pop up in your mind are the expertise about the fertility specialists and staff of a particular clinic. Many clinics highlight a lot of physical and psychological screening tests to win the customers’ confidence but whether these are carried out in reality need to be verified. Testimonials or experience of customers can throw light on this matter. You can consult them prior to setting out for abroad fertility treatment. But keep in mind that your requirement may differ from theirs and one’s success does not ensure yours. No doubt, success in fertility treatment is dicey, but checking the basic parameters of an abroad clinic before selection is always recommended.