Minister must crack down on fertility snake oil and protect patients
Minister must crack down on fertility snake oil and protect patients - The Labour Party
- Women and couples at a hugely vulnerable and sensitive times in their lives are open to exploitation by for profit clinics and need and deserve regulatory protection.
- It is scandalous that Assisted Human Reproduction regulatory authority is still not functioning more than two years after legislation. Patients desperately need a functioning independent statutory oversight agency. Just 25 of the 234 sections have been commenced. Minister’s inaction on surrogacy provisions is holding up protections for a wider group of people.
Labour health spokesperson Marie Sherlock TD has today called on the Minister for Health to urgently bring Ireland’s Assisted Human Reproduction regulatory authority into operation following warnings about fertility add-ons sold on the Irish market. Her call comes as the Chair to the Authority was appointed 12months ago and the CEO was appointed six months ago.
Responding to reporting ahead of tonight’s RTÉ Investigates programme, “Fertility Uncovered”, Deputy Sherlock demanded a clear timetable for independent statutory oversight to protect patients from potentially harmful treatments and misleading claims.
Deputy Sherlock said:
“Huge credit to RTÉ for this programme which uncovers deeply unsavoury and unethical practises in the fertility sector. People seeking help to have a baby deserve safe treatment, honest advice and proper protection yet some are exploited at a very vulnerable and sensitive time in their lives. The warnings from leading medical experts about meaningless and dangerous fertility add-ons should ring alarm bells across Government.
“Fertility treatment can place enormous emotional and financial pressure on people. When someone desperately wants a child, claims that an additional treatment could improve their chances carry enormous weight. Patients must receive clear information about the evidence, risks and full costs before anyone asks them to pay.
“The Minister must crack down on fertility snake oil. No provider should sell false hope or promote an additional treatment without sound evidence to support the claims they make.
“The Assisted Human Reproduction Act into law in July 2024. While we understand and support that changes to parts of that legislation in respect of surrogacy need to be made, that should not preclude the commencement of the rest of the act. It is simply not credible that just 26 sections out of 234 sections are commenced in the bill. We demand a clear timeline for the full operation of the act.
“The Minister must now publish a firm timeline, provide the staff and funding the authority needs, and ensure it can scrutinise treatment claims and enforce standards. Ireland remains far behind where it needs to be, and patients bear the consequences of Government’s lack of urgency. People seeking fertility care have waited long enough. Government must stop dragging its feet and deliver the protection patients deserve.”