Protect the child from being born: arguments against IVF from heads of the 13 licensed Dutch fertility centres, ethical and legal perspectives

Hunfeld, J. A. M.; Passchier, Jan; Bolt, L; Buijsen, Martin

doi:10.1080/02646830412331298341

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Professionals describe various circumstances that raise such concerns, such as mental health, substance abuse, negligence or abuse of existing children, marital strife, and even very difficult socio-economic conditions. [29][30][31][32][33] Numerous arguments can be made for and against allowing health professionals to be 'gate keepers' and to have the moral authority to decide whom to treat and whom to reject. What is certain, though, is that they themselves experience such circumstances as ethically challenging.…”

Section: Specific Features Of This Ethical Tensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This belief is usually based on an assessment of certain characteristics of the prospective parents, that make professionals question their future parental capability and hence the safety and well-being of a child they would raise. Professionals describe various circumstances that raise such concerns, such as mental health, substance abuse, negligence or abuse of existing children, marital strife, and even very difficult socio-economic conditions 29 33 Numerous arguments can be made for and against allowing health professionals to be ‘gate keepers’ and to have the moral authority to decide whom to treat and whom to reject.…”

Section: Possible Tension Between Health Professionals and Prospectivmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The epigenetic effects of assisted reproductive technologies: ethical considerations

Roy

Dupras

Ravitsky

2017

J Dev Orig Health Dis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has increased significantly, allowing many coping with infertility to conceive. However, an emerging body of evidence suggests that ART could carry epigenetic risks for those conceived through the use of these technologies. In accordance with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, ART could increase the risk of developing late-onset diseases through epigenetic mechanisms, as superovulation, fertilization methods and embryo culture could impair the embryo's epigenetic reprogramming. Such epigenetic risks raise ethical issues for all stakeholders: prospective parents and children, health professionals and society. This paper focuses on ethical issues raised by the consideration of these risks when using ART. We apply two key ethical principles of North American bioethics (respect for autonomy and non-maleficence) and suggest that an ethical tension may emerge from conflicting duties to promote the reproductive autonomy of prospective parents on one hand, and to minimize risks to prospective children on the other. We argue that this tension is inherent to the entire enterprise of ART and thus cannot be addressed by individual clinicians in individual cases. We also consider the implications of the 'non-identity problem' in this context. We call for additional research that would allow a more robust evidence base for policy. We also call upon professional societies to provide clinicians with guidelines and educational resources to facilitate the communication of epigenetic risks associated with ART to patients, taking into consideration the challenges of communicating risk information whose validity is still uncertain.

show abstract

Section: Specific Features Of This Ethical Tensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Possible Tension Between Health Professionals and Prospectivmentioning

confidence: 99%

The epigenetic effects of assisted reproductive technologies: ethical considerations

Roy

Dupras

Ravitsky

2017

J Dev Orig Health Dis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Around 2% of conceptions in Europe are medically assisted, most of them being "in vitro" fertilizations (IVF) [12], but only 15-20% result in pregnancy at the first attempt [13]. The low success rate of ARTs makes these "solutions" a source of various stress factors which build up throughout the different treatments.…”

Section: Infertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive Psychology and Infertility

Gras¹

2017

Acta Psychopathol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…the UK Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) in its Code of Practice 10 and the Dutch Society of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (NVOG) 11 . In the literature, this issue is mainly discussed with an eye to societal concerns about the welfare of the child in non-standard relationships or single parent families (De Wert et al 2014a ), and also with regard to concerns about creating families at a high risk of child abuse or neglect (Pennings 1999 , 2011 ; Peterson 2005 ; Thompson and McDougall 2015 ; Hunfeld et al 2004 ). However specific welfare-of-the-child concerns may arise in PGD practice which have not until now been given much attention in the literature on the ethics of PGD, nor in professional guidance documents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with treatment and transfer requests: how PGD-professionals discuss ethical challenges arising in everyday practice

Soto-Lafontaine

Wert

Provoost

et al. 2017

Med Health Care and Philos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How do professionals working in pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) reflect upon their decision making with regard to ethical challenges arising in everyday practice? Two focus group discussions were held with staff of reproductive genetic clinics: one in Utrecht (The Netherlands) with PGD-professionals from Dutch PGD-centres and one in Prague (Czech Republic) with PGD-professionals working in centres in different European countries. Both meetings consisted of two parts, exploring participants’ views regarding (1) treatment requests for conditions that may not fulfill traditional indications criteria for PGD, and (2) treatment and transfer requests involving welfare-of-the-child considerations. There was general support for the view that people who come for PGD will have their own good reasons to consider the condition they wish to avoid as serious. But whereas PGD-professionals in the international group tended to stress the applicants’ legal right to eventually have the treatment they want (whatever the views of the professional), participants in the Dutch group sketched a picture of shared decision-making, where professionals would go ahead with treatment in cases where they are able to understand the reasonableness of the request in the light of the couple’s reproductive history or family experience. In the international focus group there was little support for guidance stating that welfare-of-the child considerations should be taken into account. This was different in the Dutch focus group, where shared decision-making also had the role of reassuring professionals that applicants had adequately considered possible implications for the welfare of the child.

show abstract

Protect the child from being born: arguments against IVF from heads of the 13 licensed Dutch fertility centres, ethical and legal perspectives

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

The epigenetic effects of assisted reproductive technologies: ethical considerations

The epigenetic effects of assisted reproductive technologies: ethical considerations

Reproductive Psychology and Infertility

Dealing with treatment and transfer requests: how PGD-professionals discuss ethical challenges arising in everyday practice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About