What every IVF patient needs to know before starting IVF - How to find the best IVF clinic

 

Every IVF patient wants to go to the best IVF doctor . After all, it’s obvious that the better your doctor , the better your chances of getting pregnant !

However, the catch is that it's very hard to find out who the best IVF doctor for you is.

Every doctor claims they are the best – after all, no doctor is going to say I am the second-best !

It’s hard for patients to differentiate between IVF doctors , because pretty much every IVF clinic website looks the same .

They all claim they have the best IVF success rates ; they all have photographs of smiling couples and happy babies; their “state of the art” IVF laboratory's facilities ; how experienced and caring their doctors are ; and testimonials by patients of how great their experience has been ( though how many of these have been bought and how any are fake is hard to say, because IVF has become so cut-throat and commercialized today).

It’s only when you actually visit the IVF clinic that you find out that a lot of these claims are just marketing spiel, and that there is a big gap between what the website claims, and what the clinic actually does.

Part of the problem is most patients only learn how to differentiate between good and bad IVF doctors the hard way – after their IVF cycle fails. This is the time they finally wake up , and realise they should have asked lots of questions before paying their fees.

After you have signed up for the IVF package , it becomes very hard to get back out , because doctors are quite happy to take your money up front . They often lure patients into signing up for three cycle IVF packages , which means it’s very hard to leave, because you are trapped. No one wants to waste the money they have spent, and hope lives eternal, so patients fall into the “sunk cost” trap.

Once they sign you up ( by offering a low price up-front, so patients think they are getting a bargain), it’s easy for them to upsell and cross sell you . Once you start your treatment cycle , they add new bells and whistles , which are much more expensive , and patients are tempted, because the doctor claims these additional procedures will increase their chances of getting pregnant. These include duds like the ERA test and PGT.

The poor patient doesn't know any better , and is happy to do whatever the doctor advices, to increase the chances of getting pregnant . They are happy to believe whatever the doctor tells, but the doctor is just adding financial insult to emotional injury .

Patients they find themselves trapped in a hole which they can't get out of .

The only way to protect yourself is to be proactive , and do your homework before you pay your IVF fees