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News

Woman in 60s 'pregnant through IVF'

189 replies

Tutter · 04/05/2006 08:36

(from yahoo! news)

raises some interesting questions i think - like why do we have kids? for whose benefit? is she being selfish? or is she as justified as you or i?

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A controversial Italian fertility doctor has helped a British woman in her early 60s to become pregnant, it was reported.

Patricia Rashbrook, a child psychiatrist from Lewes, East Sussex, is now seven months' pregnant after being given IVF treatment by Severino Antinori, according to The Sun.

The newspaper reported she was 63 - which would make her the oldest British mother when she gives birth.

Dr Rashbrook's husband, John Farrant, refused to comment on the story but said his wife

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was younger than 63.
He told The Sun: "My wife is seven months' pregnant. We are of course both very happy and looking forward to the birth. Obviously at our age it is quite daunting.

"I would not call it a miracle baby but an assisted conception. We were aware this was going to come out and we have been preparing ourselves psychologically for the news to break."

Dr Rashbrook, who already has two children from her first marriage, flew to Rome last October for treatment, The Sun reported.

Antinori, who runs a private fertility clinic in Rome, first made headlines in 1994 by helping a post-menopausal 63-year-old woman become pregnant with donor eggs and hormones.

He has said in the past he aimed to be the first to produce a baby cloned from an adult. In 2004 he claimed that he knew of three cloned babies that had been born but refused to produce any evidence, citing legal reasons.

Previously Britain's oldest mother was hill farmer Liz Buttle, from Wales, who was 60 when she gave birth to a son called Joseph in 1997. The oldest woman in the world to give birth is thought to be Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who had a daughter called Eliza Maria in January 2005 at the age of 66.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 04/05/2006 17:55

Well, I don't see what's offensive about MI's comment. It's what she feels is best for her and nowhere did she say, 'I think people who have kids post 43 are irresponsible.' She's just one person expressing an opinion.

Finding offense w/comments people write online is a certain cause of grief.

I agree, SG.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 17:59

I think that criticising a legitimate chpice that these parents have made is sad..there are far less fortunate children coming into the world than this one

expatinscotland · 04/05/2006 18:01

should it be a legitimate choice, tho? just b/c they want it? b/c that could apply to all kinds of thngs then.

jabberwocky · 04/05/2006 18:01

Well, this is one person expressing an opinion as well. I think if she had only said, "I don't want to have a 7 year old at 50" it would be one thing. But "for everyone's sake"? what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Glad to hear that you've never found offensive with an online post expat...

jabberwocky · 04/05/2006 18:02

"found offense"

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 18:03

I think it has been considered by ethics and in Italy passed..I expect that it will be available here sooner or later too..

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 18:05

There is no age limit for fertility treatment set down in UK law, and whether a particular person is treated is left to the clinical judgment of doctors. - BBC

expatinscotland · 04/05/2006 18:06

Get a grip, jabber! MI's an experienced journalist who generally doesn't set out to have personal digs at people.

What does it mean?

Probably FA.

Another day I'm thankful to be in the UK.

jabberwocky · 04/05/2006 18:09

get a grip, yourself, expat. I'm not the one spouting off opinions about other people and their very personal decisions. I am suggesting tolerance for others. Sorry if you can't grasp that concept.

SaintGeorge · 04/05/2006 18:12

Why do people have to make this personal?

I read 'for everyones sake' to mean everyone involved, ie family and friends, not the whole bloody world.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 18:22

Aren't Jabber and Expat both Americans ???? Not that it means anything...

AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/05/2006 18:24

"I think it has been considered by ethics and in Italy passed..I expect that it will be available here sooner or later too.."

I actually think otherwise, the Hfea would never actively allow it. The UK has some of the strictest regulations regarding IVF in the entire world.

I am wondering if her husband has any children from a previous relationship. If not she may have felt it was somehow necessary for him to have his own child as she has two now grown up children of her own.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 18:25

why would they never allow it? For anyone?

juuule · 04/05/2006 18:26

MB - I didn't mean to trivialise the experiences of anyone who has lived with parents with dementia. I'm sure it must be extremely difficult.

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 18:29

I think that this is a topic that we all view in light of our own experiences. I'm an older mum myself, so I can understand that side of things a little. But I also know something of the difficulties of dealing with aging parents (which I assume that younger MN will not yet understand Smile )

What I have seen with my mother is beyond awful, and I am a mature woman. To put a 18 year old through what I am coping with would take something that I don't have, or for that matter take a 1/5 risk of it happeneing.

juuule · 04/05/2006 18:29

So if in prehistoric times woman didn't live long enough to go through menopause, were we really meant to be fertile until the day we died? Have we messed up natures plan by living longer? Should we correct that through IVF?

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 18:32

I think if you are older then you are less inclined to think in terms of age as the single most important factor..i can also sympathise with having a partner with no children of their own

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 18:33

juule that was my conclusion...what about countries where life expectancy is in the mid thirties more children are born not fewer

juuule · 04/05/2006 18:33

But MB as you say we are viewing things through our own life experiences. Some younger people have to watch an alcoholic parent destroy the family and themselves. I watched my own mother suffer for a long time with terminal cancer. However, the whole of life is a risk and it's up to the individual which risks they want to take.

expatinscotland · 04/05/2006 18:34

Exactly, SG! I often wonder that myself.

This is a public site that I feel it fairly rare in that members are invited to share their opinions freely w/a minimum of censorship.

I am American, velcro, yes, and one pet peeve of mine (among many, hence, why I will never live in America again) is that they seem to take nearly everything personally and seriously and have to be the most quick to 'offend' people on the entire planet. I stand guilty as charged of this myself at times, although not often enough to ever really fit in in America.

Getting offended takes energy and I'm lazy by nature.

It also grows tiresome and makes most good conversations insufferably dull.

Just my 2p, of course.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 18:35

"The UK has some of the strictest regulations regarding IVF in the entire world. " Really Meerkat - how do you know that (I ask as I don't know)...

SaintGeorge · 04/05/2006 18:35

2 cents expat, 2 cents Smile

AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/05/2006 18:35

"why would they never allow it? For anyone"

This couple went abroad because no UK clinic would have treated them on grounds of age. Even Prof Craft's clinic have a cut off age for couples (its 56). All UK clinics offering such treatment are strictly regulated by the Hfea. We as a nation have some of the strictest regulations regarding IVF in the entire world.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 18:37

but why at a future date wouldn't things change here? Italy isn't that far away in terms of culture?

bundle · 04/05/2006 18:37

she didn't have it done in the uk though, and i doubt she would have got the Ok (now that Craft has had a finger waggled at him)