Friday, May 04, 2018

How IVF doctors create work for themselves !

A patient just sent me this email

I and my husband were trying to conceive for last 4 months but didn't get success. I went for normal fertility check up and was surprised to know that my AMH level was only 1.41. I was suggested to opt for IVF. Please suggest i should wait for normal conception or shall opt for IVF?

Doctors seem to be happy to do IVF for anyone who walks into their clinic, and this kind of "treatment creep" leads to unnecessary overtreatment .

While IVF is a great treatment, it should be restricted only to infertile couples who need it !

For one thing, this couple is not even infertile. The definition of infertility is a failure to conceive even after trying for a year.

Ideally, the doctor should have reassured them that it takes time to make a baby; and also educated them about the "fertile time". If they wanted more reassurance, he could have done some basic tests, just to set their mind at peace.

Also, it makes no sense to treat a patient based on just one blood test result. Ideally, the result should have been re-checked again, and additional tests done to confirm the diagnosis of poor ovarian reserve ( such as an antral follicle count) , if he was worried about her low AMH level.

Sadly, we are seeing that lots of doctors are happy to take advantage of the patient's ignorance and desperation, and this is a tragedy.

Ironically, doing IVF for these " patients " - who don't need it in the first place - improves the IVF doctor's success rate - and his bank balance as well !

Not sure if you really need IVF ? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide you !




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