QLD government considers IVF law changes after patients refused treatment

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Queensland government is considering amendments to assisted reproductive laws after some IVF patients were told their treatment couldn't go ahead.

Transcript

00:00Well this is an incredibly complex story and it started last September when

00:06legislation first passed through Parliament that required IVF providers

00:10to collect more information when it came to their donors. Now this meant email

00:14addresses, phone numbers and full names. Some have said that that was

00:19particularly difficult when it came to overseas donors, when it came to their

00:23embryos and sperms and those patients that already had them would mean that

00:27they no longer complied with the legislation. Now the concern here is

00:31that it comes as a Queensland IVF patient, a woman in her 30s who had conceived her

00:37first child using a donor from a US sperm bank known as Zytex, had then looked to

00:42conceive a second biological sibling using the same donor. She was told by her

00:47clinic that that was no longer possible because they were unable to collect the

00:51relevant information needed and that wouldn't comply with legislation. Now

00:55days after she was told this information that it was not possible she then was

01:00informed by her clinic QFG that they could now go ahead with the transfer. She

01:05said not only was the back and forth conversations incredibly confusing and

01:09distressing but it caused her to miss an entire treatment cycle and it also

01:14highlighted the issues that comes with legislating an industry that largely until

01:18last September had been self-regulated. Now the ABC can reveal that Queensland

01:23Health's chief medical officer Dr Catherine McDougall had written to

01:27providers last Friday telling them that the act had never been intended to be a

01:32barrier for treatment and also said that the continuation of cycles was simply a

01:37clinical matter. We've also heard from a spokesperson from the Health Minister

01:41Tim Nichols who has said that the issues that are now arising are simply

01:45unintended consequences from the draft legislation rather than deliberate policy

01:50decisions but given the fact that IVF has been in the spotlight most recently many

01:55across the state are hoping the amendments made to this legislation happen

01:59sooner rather than later.

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