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【社会人文】不育病人超过50岁可否做体外受精？
The Times
October 14, 2006
Fertility Panel bishop blesses IVF for over-50s
By Mark Henderson, Helen Rumbelow and Alice Miles
WOMEN in their fifties and sixties should not be banned from having IVF on account of their age, the head of the Government’s fertility watchdog said yesterday.
Infertile patients of any age should be seen as individuals whose reproductive choices deserve respect, and doctors should not refuse treatment purely because they have passed the menopause, according to Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford and now the interim chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
In an interview with The Times Lord Harries also signalled that the HFEA was set to cut the number of embryos that could be transferred to the wombs of most IVF patients from two to one, to tackle the problem of twin and triplet births. An expert panel commissioned by the authority is expected to recommend such a change on Wednesday.
While there is no absolute age limit for IVF in Britain the NHS will not fund it for women aged over 40, and it is difficult in practice for those aged over 45 to find even private clinics that are willing to treat them.
Low success rates and laws requiring doctors to consider the welfare of any children that might be born lead most fertility units to reject older women as patients, even when they propose to use donated eggs. While a few British women have become IVF mothers in their fifties and sixties, most of these, such as Patricia Rashbrook, who gave birth this year at 62, have had to travel abroad for therapy.
Dr Rashbrook was widely criticised for her decision to have IVF, amid concern that she will be in her late seventies when her son is a teenager. Her pregnancy led to calls that the Government impose a legal age limit in its forthcoming review of Britain’s embryo legislation.
Lord Harries, who succeeded Dame Suzi Leather as HFEA chairman last month, rejected this proposal, saying instead that every woman must be considered for treatment on grounds of medical suitability alone. Advanced age was not a sufficient reason for ruling patients out, he told The Times.
He sympathised with Dr Rashbrook’s decision, which was little different from that of thousands of men who become fathers at a similar age. “I think I respected her choice,” he said. “I mean, men can conceive at a vast age.” The requirement on doctors to consider the welfare of any children that might be born as a result of IVF should be eased in the Government’s review, he said. This would make it easier for older women to receive treatment.
His position was criticised by Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, which campaigns for embryo rights and traditional families. “The natural menopause is not a symptom of infertility,” she said. “It is altogether too simple to say it should be in the clinical judgment of doctors, and delegate it that way.
“We should trust the absolute wisdom of nature which says at 62 you cannot have a child naturally.”
But fertility doctors welcomed the idea that decisions should be left to their professional judgment. Gillian Lockwood, chairman of the British Fertility Society ethics committee, said: “If you remove the risk of disability and Downs’ syndrome by using donated eggs, then it does start to look ageist and sexist to set an age limit for women when there is not one for men.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2402948,00.html WOMEN in their fifties and sixties should not be banned from having IVF on account of their age, the head of the Government’s fertility watchdog said yesterday.
昨天，英国政府生殖权利委员会主席宣称，五六十岁的妇女不能因为其年龄而禁止其应用试管受精受孕。
Infertile patients of any age should be seen as individuals whose reproductive choices deserve respect, and doctors should not refuse treatment purely because they have passed the menopause, according to Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford and now the interim chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
牛津大学前任主教、现临时但任人类受精和胚胎学委员会（HFEA）主席Lord Harries 指出，应该尊重任何年龄的不孕者其生殖选择权，医生也不得单纯依据她们已经绝经而拒绝治疗。
In an interview with The Times Lord Harries also signalled that the HFEA was set to cut the number of embryos that could be transferred to the wombs of most IVF patients from two to one, to tackle the problem of twin and triplet births. An expert panel commissioned by the authority is expected to recommend such a change on Wednesday.
在THE Timnes的采访中，Lord Harries 同时指出，HFEA目前已着手将移植到IVF患者子宫内为的胚胎数量从2个削减为1个，以解决生产2或3胞胎的问题。政府当局支配的一个专家组也将于周三介绍这一变化。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-07-21 18:14
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