Strong reactions from fertility docs to potential regulation
Today, Kevin O'Reilly at American Medical News--the news outlet of the American Medical Association--reported on steps being taken by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine toward potential codification of its nonbinding guidelines. To the credit of that industry association, these guidelines have contributed to a 60% reduction in the birth of triplets or larger multiple births after in vitro fertilization. Nevertheless, fewer than 20% of fertility clinics in the US actually follow the letter of the guidelines (1, 2)
Some fertility specialists are not pleased that the ASRM is convening a meeting next month to discuss this new openness to public policy. For example, Stemagen's Samuel Wood, who strongly bent California's law in order to acquire eggs for his company's cloning-based stem cell research, raised the specter of a slippery slope--only this slope is that of regulation:
"The apparent open invitation by any professional medical society for heavy-handed government intrusion in the physician-patient relationship is, frankly, shocking," said Samuel H. Wood, MD, PhD, a La Jolla, Calif., reproductive endocrinologist. "The ASRM has taken patients and physicians to the top of the proverbial slippery slope and is apparently encouraging them to jump off. And this slope is particularly steep and slippery, because it involves the government mandating the specific medical treatment for what are commonly very complicated medical conditions. Codification of these standards would be a tragic error that would severely restrict the ability of physicians to provide appropriate, individualized medical care to their patients."
And James Grifo, a former president of the ASRM who took some of his controversial research to China after the US Food and Drug Administration shut it down, cited the inevitable "unintended consequences":
ASRM's openness to regulation "is ridiculous," said James A. Grifo, MD, PhD, program director of the New York University Fertility Center. "It may be a good effort, but what are they trying to accomplish? Everyone has the goal of not having multiples, but the more you have a regulatory agency interfere with your ability to practice medicine, the more unintended consequences will occur."
It remains to be seen how this rift within the fertility industry will be resolved.