Embryos frozen in pairs - no informed consent
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No, for sure what the clinic did was wrong. You need to take this up with someone because they’ll do it to other patients in future.
Surely they should Have had to have your permission to do that? I would 100% ask them where it states they freeze in pairs. I know all situations are different, our clinic has always recommended us to have single transfers and our embryos were all individually frozen x
We have 6 in the freezer - I actually have no idea if these are single or doubles. The thought didn’t even cross my mind 😳Sorry you are having this stress. I wish you well x
It is really surprising they didn’t inform you before freezing embryos. I think it is totally reasonable to demand your clinic’s explanation and apology! However you need to make a decision based on having 2 transfers left. You still have a very high chance of giving your daughter a sibling based on your record! Discuss with your consultant about not wanting twins (if that’s the case) and see what they advise x
@Sharon this is exactly how I feel, I’m just not sure who it is I should be seeking advice from before I then direct it to the clinic!
@Amy that’s exactly how I feel and they didn’t at all, we never even knew about it! We were only allowed to do single embryo transfers for the first 3, then because we lost all 3 of those pregnancies we met the ‘criteria’ for double transfers and that was what they recommended. We obviously went with what they advised thinking it was best until we were told otherwise. It now makes me question if they only advised we did doubles because that’s how they froze them rather than for any medical reason! X
@Francesca it isn’t something we ever thought either as it’s not something that was ever mentioned to us! It’s obviously now too late for us as all of our embryos are gone so there is nothing we can do but I think it still needs addressing x
@Wanyu sorry I think you’ve misunderstood this somehow, we have no embryos left! My daughter was one of our 2 very last embryos (numbers 10 & 11). So the decision to have a second child is completely out of our hands, it took us 11 embryos across 7 transfers and 7 pregnancies to have 1 baby so our record is actually pretty poor and the fact she’s here is a miracle! X
@Jade oh sorry I misunderstood! But that’s even more shocking they didn’t tell you along the way how many embryos you have left? When I said you have good record I meant you seemed to get pregnant every time but due to immune problems they couldn’t stick. I also had 7 transfers (all single) with 3 egg collections and my son is the lucky 7 after they found out immune problems as well!! Will you consider another cycle?
@Jade If it’s an NHS clinic I think you would start with PALS?
@Wanyu we knew how many we had, what we were never informed of was that they only froze 3 out of 11 singularly, the remaining 8 were frozen in pairs. This meant we had to transfer both embryos for transfers 4,5,6&7 as they had to defrost them both together and they said refreezing one out of the pair each time wasn’t a viable option. Unfortunately we’re not in a financial position to start all over again, we’d need ICSI and to have all of the embryos PGT tested and then pay for all of the immune therapy as well, we were quoted around £25,000 for everything which just isn’t doable with a baby. I also spent a week in hospital seriously unwell with severe OHSS and then another month after that recovering with complications so we said we wouldn’t do another egg collection! X
@Sharon we were NHS funded patients but our clinic is a private clinic, part of a very large and well known fertility ‘brand’. I’ve tried to find info on how to complain and strangely there is nothing on their websites! I think I’m going to start with the HFEA to gather information on just how wrong this is before I then approach the clinic directly x
https://www.hfea.gov.uk/contact-us/making-a-complaint-about-a-fertility-clinic/
https://www.avma.org.uk
And before anyone comments negatively, I am beyond thankful for my daughter and the fact she is here is nothing short of a miracle after losing 6 babies. My partner has also played devils advocate and said that if we’d not transferred our embryos in pairs then the baby girl I love more than life itself wouldn’t be my daughter as her embryo would still be frozen which makes me feel so guilty for being upset by this situation. I just can’t shake my feelings around this and that what the clinic did was wrong.