Common Knowledge On Infertility
The most common definition of infertility is consistent sexual intercourse and the inability to conceive. Research studies have shown that over 90% of couples will conceive within the first year when they are planning a baby and 95% of couples will get pregnant within the first two years. Reduced fertility is a term which defines a situation where it takes more than two years to attain a pregnancy. Over 40% of couples who are said to be infertile have a baby after seven years and these include couples who are known as failures and have absolutely no chances of having a baby.
Over million couples are said to be affected by infertility and one out of ten such couples are facing problems in getting pregnant. Though the figures connected to infertility have been stable for many decades, now people feel that an infertility epidemic is on the rise since many couples are postponing the decision of having a baby until they are well over thirty years of age. Since 1990, many couples have started visiting doctors in order to seek solutions for infertility. They are very sure that they only want their own biological child and no other.
A visit to the doctor for infertility treatment will usually add to the sense of failure and disappointment. Both the partners will have to undergo a complete physical examination and their reproductive capacities will be tested and the timing of sexual intercourse will also be determined by the doctor. Men do not like being told that they have a low sperm count and women also feel sad when they learn that they have a hormonal imbalance. A woman who has terminated an earlier pregnancy due to the circumstances or because the timing was not right, will feel extremely guilty when she finds that she is infertile later on.
By 1995, thousands of babies were born all over the world after in-vitro fertilization was introduced. The first test tube baby, Louise brown was born in 1978. New fertility drugs have been many thousands of women to have a bundle of joy. But infertility treatment has now become a big business which has a turnover of over two billion in a year. Thirty fertility clinics were opened in the United States in 1985 and more than three hundred clinics had been opened after 1995. Most of these are private clinics and this helps them to get a return on their investment much sooner. But doctors here have been known to always resort to complicated and more expensive procedures instead of the less complicated ones. The doctors choose the medical procedure to be performed depending on the medical insurance which the patient has.
Many consumer lawyers have complained that people in the infertility business have never been questioned about the fees which they charge and no one wants to get further details about the safety of their procedures. As an answer to these complaints, a law was introduced which demanded that all fertility clinics should disclose all the data regarding the treatment that they offer and how successful it has been. These way prospective patients could decide which clinic is best for them and standards could also be set up for their laboratories.