Fertility and Sterility
Volume 84, Issue 2 , Pages 431-434 , August 2005

Parents’ conceptualization of their frozen embryos complicates the disposition decision

Presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, San Antonio, Texas, October 11–15, 2003.

  • Robert D. Nachtigall, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, California
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Robert D. Nachtigall, M.D., Institute of Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 340, San Francisco, California 94118-0646 (FAX: 415-502-5208).
    • ,
  • Gay Becker, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California
    • ,
  • Carrie Friese, B.A.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California
    • ,
  • Anneliese Butler, B.A.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Social Work, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
    • ,
  • Kirstin MacDougall, M.F.A.

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, California

Received 20 October 2004 ,Revised 27 January 2005 ,Accepted 27 January 2005.

References 

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 2001 Assisted reproductive technology success rates (national summary and fertility clinic reports) . 2003; December
  2. Hoffman DL , Zellman GL , Fair CC , Mayer JF , Zeitz JG , Gibbons WE , et al.   Cryopreserved embryos in the United States and their availability for research . Fertil Steril . 2003;79:1063–1069
  3. Klock SC , Sheinin S , Kazer RR . The disposition of unused frozen embryos [letter] . N Engl J Med . 2001;345:69–70
  4. McMahon CA , Gibson F , Cohen J , Leslie G , Tennant C , Saunders D . Mothers conceiving through in vitro fertilization (siblings, setbacks, and embryo dilemmas) . Reprod Technol . 2000;10:131–135
  5. Robertson JA . Ethical and legal issues in human embryo donation . Fertil Steril . 1995;64:885–894
  6. Lornage J , Chorier H , Boulieu D , Mathieu C , Czyba JC . Six year follow-up of cryopreserved human embryos . Hum Reprod . 1995;10:2610–2616
  7. Hounshell CV , Chetkowski RJ . Donation of frozen embryos after in vitro fertilization is uncommon . Fertil Steril . 1996;66:837–838
  8. Department of Health and Human Services . Office of Public Health and Science program announcement no. OPHS 2002-01 . Federal Register . 2002; July 25, (volume 67, number 143).
  9. Ethics Committee, American Society for Reproductive Medicine . Donating spare embryos for embryonic stem-cell research . Fertil Steril . 2002;78:957–960
  10. Luborsky MR . The identification and analysis of themes and patterns . In:  Gubrium J ,  Sankar A editor. Qualitative methods in aging research . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 1994;p. 189–210
  11. Becker G . Disrupted lives (how people create meaning in a chaotic world) . Berkeley: University of California Press; 1997;

 Supported by National Institutes of Health and Child Development grant no. HD39117.

PII: S0015-0282(05)00855-1

doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.134

Fertility and Sterility
Volume 84, Issue 2 , Pages 431-434 , August 2005

Article Tools