Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology / Chairman: Dame Mary Warnock, DBE.

  • Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology.
Date:
1984
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology / Chairman: Dame Mary Warnock, DBE. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/116 (page 12)
    although we recognise that it is impossible to predict with any certainty how lasting such a relationship will be. 2.12 We have considered very carefully whether there are circumstances where it is inappropriate for treatment which is solely for the alleviation of infertility to be provided. In general we hold that everyone should be entitled to seek expert advice and appropriate investigation. This will usually involve referral to a consultant. However, at the present time services for the treatment of infertility are in short supply, both for initial referral and investigation and for the more specialised treatments considered in this report. In this situation of scarcity some individuals will have a more compelling case for treatment than others. In the circumstances medical practitioners will, clearly, use their clinical judgment as to the priority of the individual case bearing in mind such considerations as the patient’s age, the duration of infertility and the likelihood that treatment will be successful. So far this is not contentious. However, notwithstanding our view that every patient is enti- tled to advice and investigation of his or her infertility, we can foresee occasions where the consultant may, after discussion with professional health and social work colleagues, consider that there are valid reasons why infertility treatment would not be in the best interests of the patient, the child that may be born following treatment, or the patient’s immediate family. 2.13 This question of eligibility for treatment is a very diffi- cult one, and we believe that hard and fast rules are not applic- able to its solution. We recognise that this will place a heavy burden of responsibility on the individual consultant who must make social judgments that go beyond the purely medical, in the types of case we have discussed. We considered whether it was possible for us to set out the wider social criteria that consultants, together with their professional colleagues, should use in deciding whether infertility treatment should be provided for a particular patient. We decided it was not possible to draw up comprehensive criteria that would be sensitive to the circum- stances of every case. We recognise however that individual practitioners are on occasions going to decline to treat a particu- lar patient and we recommend that in cases where consul- tants decline to provide treatment they should: always give the patient a full explanation of the reasons. This would at least ensure that patients were not kept in ignorance of the reason for refusal, and would be able to exercise their right to seek a second opinion.