The chairman of the British Fertility Society has warned that IVF mix-ups, in which women are given someone else's embryo, will continue to happen. Recently a couple were told that their last frozen embryo had been mistakenly implanted into another patient. The woman went on to have a termination after being was told that she had been inseminated with a child that was not her own. A trainee embryologist was said to have taken the embryo from the wrong shelf at the IVF clinic, based at the University Hospital of Wales. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) already requires a system of "double witnessing" in which staff check and document each other's work, to reduce the risk of such mistakes. But the case has led to calls that embryos should be electronically "tagged" to prevent mix-ups ever happening again. Mr Rutherford said: "Everybody working in this field wants to avoid a mix up... but we do live in the real world and unfortunately when humans are involved there will be mistakes. But the risks are incredibly small". According to the Telegraph, some centres are reportedly experimenting with an electronic system, involving bar codes and alarms, to replace "double witnessing". But Mr Rutherford said that there were no guarantees that they would be any more successful than the current system. Source: Telegraph, 26 June 2009. tinyurl.com/km2uov08 July 2009
No cure for IVF errors
The chairman of the British Fertility Society has warned that IVF mix-ups, in which women are given someone else's embryo, will continue to happen. Recently a couple were told that their last frozen embryo had been mistakenly implanted into another patient. The woman went on to have a termination after being was told that she had been inseminated with a child that was not her own. A trainee embryologist was said to have taken the embryo from the wrong shelf at the IVF clinic, based at the University Hospital of Wales. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) already requires a system of "double witnessing" in which staff check and document each other's work, to reduce the risk of such mistakes. But the case has led to calls that embryos should be electronically "tagged" to prevent mix-ups ever happening again. Mr Rutherford said: "Everybody working in this field wants to avoid a mix up... but we do live in the real world and unfortunately when humans are involved there will be mistakes. But the risks are incredibly small". According to the Telegraph, some centres are reportedly experimenting with an electronic system, involving bar codes and alarms, to replace "double witnessing". But Mr Rutherford said that there were no guarantees that they would be any more successful than the current system. Source: Telegraph, 26 June 2009. tinyurl.com/km2uov
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Refreshing to see the both sides of the risk equation acknowledged.
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