IVF suspended due to coronavirus

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www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/thousands-lose-last-hope-of-having-a-baby-as-lockdown-closes-ivf-clinics

Sorry but this is so wrong and unfair. Thousands of people could lose out permanently on their chance to have children because of a virus that most people survive if they get it anyway! The restrictions have now gone way too far.

Many people have had very important (potentially life saving) medical procedures cancelled or put on hold because of coronavirus patients taking priority and that shouldn't be allowed to happen either.

It must be absolutely heartbreaking.

I do think it’s right to prioritise saving lives but I also can’t imagine how distressing it is for those having treatments cancelled. I hope they are prioritised when this is over.

We shouldn’t be funding ivf on the nhs full stop, especially in a world so overcrowded. I’m glad of this news.

Hopefully the nhs will rethink necessary treatment after this.

Suspension of chemo is a worry, one friend has been told no chance before October.

@LilacTree1 - chemo for life prolonging (of terminal cancers) and early cancer treatments are being cancelled. So hopefully it’s a sign that your friend’s cancer is still relatively minor.

As for your other comment- well I hope when it came time for you to have children you considered overcrowding too. Or is it only infertile women who have to tow the line there?

My IVF treatment was cancelled just as we were about to start, and as devestated as I am, I think it's the right decision.

Grumpy “ So hopefully it’s a sign that your friend’s cancer is still relatively minor.”

But if it’s Stage 2 now, what will it be by the time she gets her next treatment?

I agree with the cancelling/postponement of all but life saving treatments. And I'm someone who does know the pain of infertility.

Also remember that staff are potentially putting their lives on the line to provide care and treatment to patients. Why should they do that for non essential care?

@LilacTree1 - it should still be fine. I am sure the consultant has considered the type of cancer and how fast it’s growing when doing the risk assessment. Not all Cancers are equal - some brain tumours for example are very, very slow growing.

Honestly I think this is more heartbreaking, going through pregnancy, giving birth, finally thinking you're starting that family then watching your child suffer because she's caught coronavirus. The ventilator mask doesn't even fit this tiny baby: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-52269084
Suspending IVF means mothers can be spared this trauma and heartbreak, and none of us know whether they will keep the same age limits when they reinstate.
I know what it's like to struggle to conceive, it really narrows your focus until it's all you can think about, and it is desperately sad, but I just wouldn't want to be trying to do IVF right now because of the unknowable risks to mother and baby - all our data on risk in pregnancy comes from a country with a very low birth rate.
Christ on a bike I can't even get a dentist appointment for a painful broken impacted wisdom tooth.

Grumpy “ As for your other comment-”

Will the taxpayer give me money for something I wanted with all my heart and every fibre of my being?

Yes, people need to have small families if they are making new people.

"We shouldn’t be funding ivf on the nhs full stop, especially in a world so overcrowded. I’m glad of this news."

Someone who has no clue has always got to get a bitchy comment in on these types of threads.

OP you would have been better posting on the infertility board.

Tiggers “ Christ on a bike I can't even get a dentist appointment for a painful broken impacted wisdom tooth.”

Oh no, I hope that gets sorted ASAP.

Ginger - I’m not the only poster who said it.

No, but you said it in the most unpleasant 'tone.'

@Ginger1982 - agreed and I bet that poster has kids too. It seems to always be the MNetters with kids who post the nastiest comments to infertile women. I agree this should probably be on the infertlity board.

We shouldn’t be funding ivf on the nhs full stop, especially in a world so overcrowded

The OP hasn't asked what's right/wrong regarding NHS treatment, the fact is that it is available and many, many couples are now devestated with it being cancelled.

It’s the right decision, but that’s not to say it’s any less heartbreaking for those who had their treatment cancelled for fertility issues.

Our county will be in so much debt when this is all over, I doubt they will ever be able to bring back funding to the level it was sadly, if at all.

Resources from private clinics/hospitals are being used or protected to treat patients either with Covid or who need treatment for other things including cancer.
Oxygen is being diverted from veterinary practices to save lives
Ordinary community patients are being advised to buy their own oxygen
PPE is being needed in other areas
Infertility is upsetting but to say that it's on a par with the other desperately needed resources is I'm sorry to say naieve

@LilacTree1 I assume you are therefore electing not to have children, given that the world is so overcrowded?

It's incredibly depressing that IVF is always such a easy target for those looking to pick off medical interventions that are apparently 'non-essential'. Infertility is very much a medical condition deserving of appropriate treatment. People who casually tell women to 'get over it' or 'just adopt' almost always have kids of their own, conceived without issue. There are also many other medical interventions where questions could be asked regarding whether effects on quality of life mean that they are worthwhile.

To say it shouldn’t be funded on the NHS is heartless!

I had my baby 10 months ago & I couldn’t imagine the pain someone would feel never experiencing what I have. Sometimes you have to step inside someone else’s shoes to understand the emotional trauma rather than trying to explain it’s not a good idea to have children because of overcrowding

I think they are quite right to do this in the present circumstances as all staff should be available to deal with those who are sick.

I should add that I am childless, I couldn't have children, before someone accuses me of not knowing how it feels.

I also agree with LilacTree that IVF should not be funded by the NHS.

All elective proceedures have been cancelled in the NHS so it is right and proper that IVF is cancelled.

People are dying and my family and friends are risking their lives on the frontline to provide care. It would be totally wrong to continue with IVF putting staff at increased risk. I know it would be devastating to have a cycle cancelled but this is a pandemic that has shut down the whole country.

Cancer treatment being stopped will have devastating consequences for those patients and many of them will die prematurely.

IVF and cancer shouldn't be compared in my opinion, one is elective and one is life saving.

Can't we all just agree that the impact of Coronavirus on everyone is shit and it's okay to feel upset about any kind of treatment being cancelled? I can't imagine wanting a baby so badly and not being able to have one without assistance. I have a loved one who had blood cancer and I get how terrifying it must be to not be on chemo right now to fight it. My dad is crippled and bed-bound at the moment because he was due a hip replacement and it's not happening. So many operations and treatment are being cancelled, each one important to the person undergoing it. OP is clearly upset, so be kind.

Long “ My dad is crippled and bed-bound at the moment because he was due a hip replacement and it's not happening”

Strange definition of essential- he should have had that. Poor soul.

As people critising me are in the “be kind” camp, I’ll simply say I don’t have children of my own, as in bloodline.

Sad, but necessary. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it would be pretty irresponsible for people to actively try to conceive at the moment.

I agree with you OP. I think the reaction to this crisis has been wrong headed in the extreme, with all kinds of actions being taken that will have only marginal impact on the spread of the virus, but will cause other kinds of devastating harm (like this one you raise here), meanwhile stuff that might actually help prevent deaths - like admitting people to ICU (apparently we are doing less of this than other countries- hence our high death rates despite there still being lots of hospital capacity) and rolling out mass testing , for example, isn’t being done. It’s devastating and infuriating and grossly unfair and wrong.