5 replies to this topic

[Pritangel]

Hi, So I have a friend who is in her 30's willing to donate her eggs to me. What are the rules, procedures I have to follow. 

[Red Wine]

You should speak with a fertility lawyer.

[ENF]

I agree with RW above. Also, your clinic may be able to offer you some assistance. I know Victoria Fertility Centre has a specific fee schedule for donor cycles so I'd assume that would come with some type of additional assistance, but outside legal advice would also be needed. 

[SunshineTTC]

There are no rules, depends on the clinic, but generally speaking you need to speak to your Dr to get the ball rolling (and/or get on wait list if there is one), and then arrange for your friend to have a consult with your Dr.  Then she will need to have basic fertility testing done (same as you would have undergone).  You can elect to do further genetic tests if you want, but most clinics wouldn't proactively do them with a known donor unless there is a reason to.  Then you both need to have a separate psych consult (Health Canada requirement) with the same psychologist or counselor, to ensure you both understand the implications of what you are embarking on, and make sure you are both on the same page in a known donor situation.  A donor cycle generally costs $1000-1500 more than a regular IVF cycle, simply due to the additional coordination required for 2 people instead of 1.  However the Toronto clinics have started profiting US-style, charging double for a donor cycle.

 

Legal contract is optional in egg donation, and legal assistance definitely not needed.  It's something you and your friend must discuss between you and decide on, whether you want to go that route or not.  Some clinics do make you get a contract regardless (Victoria does not, and will actually say that in a known donation it's pretty useless).  Note that some clinics also (incomprehensibly in this day and age) will only work with anonymous donors, so you need to check this with your clinic. Other than outlining which costs you are responsible for, a legal contract is either useless or unenforceable for anything else -- it isn't needed for parentage or support issues, since in Canada legally the woman who carries the child is the mother, regardless of where the egg comes from, and it's unenforceable for anything related to future contact etc.

[Awoyt]

Sunshine you seem to know a lot about this. I just had a quick question for you.... if you know awesome if not, I guess I will look else where =)

 

Do you need the psych consult for donating embryos? or the legal side of the house?

[cj123]

Hey Awoyt - I will pop in and try to answer your question for you.  My husband and I just received three donor embryos from a lovely couple.  Our clinic required both us and our donors to have a psych consult done.  I think most clinics do this if you are doing a known private donation.  I'm not sure if you donate to clinic programs (like Calgary and Repromed in Toronto's program) if you need a psych consult as those programs as far as I know are anonymous and don't allow for contact with donor/recipients (so I would assume you wouldn't need to have a psych eval).  The other way of donating is through beginnings in Ontario (adoption agency), and I'm not sure if they require psych consults or not.  If you are planning on donating privately though I believe most clinics would require a psych consult, but the recipients cover the costs of everything involved including the psych eval. 

 

You do need a legal contract in place in a private donation, but it's quite a simple process.  PM me if you have more questions.