Known Donor Testing

[Island4Ever]

Hi guys, this is my first time posting here. I am going through fertility treatment with a known sperm donor privately and really need some guidance on HFEA rules around donor testing.

I had my sperm donation done at my current clinic, but the whole process was so messy and we were not informed of the screening needed and timeline. The donation was released after three months quarantine, and I had one round of treatment with this clinic. The treatment did not go well so I decided to switch to another clinic in the end. Switching is pretty easy on my part, but I am stuck in the transportation of the sperm.

The new clinic took a look at all the testing done by my current clinic and decided they cannot accept the transfer due to inadequate screening post-quarantine. I don't know the full details but the new clinic said serology testing post-quarantine did not include: Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea and CMV. I asked my current clinic why they didn't do this, they said the each clinic interpret HFEA handbook differently, and each clinic have their own in-house policy. This means two clinics have different standards of donor testing, how can this be when donation process is heavily regulated in the UK.

I wrote to HFEA as well about this but I have not received a response.

Does anyone have had similar experience with this? Is my current clinic right about this?

What a nightmare. Sorry you have had a bad experience with your clinic. I think you need to find out the legal stance on this and whether the old clinic has actually done something wrong or not.

I would recommend going back to the new clinic again and asking them if they can point you towards the guidelines that they are using, and whether this is the law/ national guideline, or just an in-house system they use.

I thought that chlamydia, gonorrhea and CMV testing would be an absolute minimum tbh. If your clinic hasn't done this then I wouldn't recommend using that sample anyway, it's risky.

It is also possible though that they have done these tests pre-quarantine, and post-quarantine testing is just something that your new clinic do and your old one didn't.

You're right that sperm donation is quite heavily regulated but actually probably not as much as some other healthcare industries, and I think it's more the ethics side that is heavily regulared. I could well imagine there is some discrepancy in processes between clinics.

One more thought - is it possible to get the sample tested before transfer to the new clinic? You might have to pay for this but could be worth it if they can do it, to tick that box?

Thanks! I will ask the new clinic if they could accept the transfer if we do more testing.