IVF injustice (From The Oxford Times)

IVF injustice

10:13am Thursday 2nd July 2009 in

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We think that the young couple Claire and Gary Cousins who have been refused IVF treatment by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust have suffered an injustice.

Some would argue that no one has the right to conceive a child and that it is not something that a hard-pressed National Health Service should be funding.

We do not necessarily agree with that. There are many treatments that are undertaken that are not life-saving but improve quality of life. This could be said to be among those.

Setting these arguments aside, however, it is clear that if the Cousins lived in a different area, they would be eligible for IVF treatment, because different areas discriminate differently on the basis of age.

Mrs Cousins’ need for the treatment is the same now at 24 as it will be when she reaches the Oxfordshire PCT qualifying age of 35. Meanwhile, guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, state that women between the ages of 23 and 39 should be eligible.

The PCT has a finite amount of money and has to keep within its budget. Hence policies such as the one on IVF. However, it is unfair that a supposedly national health service is offering many treatments, some of them potentially life-prolonging, on the basis of a patient’s postcode.