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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 18:37

Touche, SG! Touche Wink!

bundle · 04/05/2006 18:38

(x post with meerkat)

AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/05/2006 18:40

Hi Velcrobott,

www.hfea.gov.uk is the website of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 18:41

Again according to the BBC : 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.

There may be women who are older in UK and who are just not telling anyone...

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 18:41

In prehistoric time we would have died well before we reached the menopause. Some clinicians (and the drugs companies who make HRT) view the menopause as 'natural' but pathological IYSWIM. They feel that a woman's body isn't supposed to last until it is deprived of oestrogen.....which leads to ostoporosis etf etc. So while the menopause is totalu 'natural' it isn't 'natural' for us to live to see it.

Not saying I agree, mind, but it is a theory that some people hold!

The average age of menopause is remarcably constant over time, and race.

(used to work in this area and can bore for Britain on it Blush )

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 18:43

Thanks Meerkat... I was also un-easy about the : " strictest regulations regarding IVF in the entire world" .... sounds very patriotic to me Wink

AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/05/2006 19:05

Velcrobott,

Sorry it didn't mean to sounds patriotic:). It is a fact though that the UK have some of the strictest regulations in the world when it comes to such treatments.

I have learnt something from you also:). I did not realise that the Hfea have given no upper age limit for fertility treatment. Would say though that many clinics though would be more reluctant to treat any woman over the age of 45.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/05/2006 19:09

Men in their 60s and older can father children (Rod Stewart etc) but what people seem to forget is that their wife/partner is often a long younger than they are.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 19:11

meerkat that is such a sexist way of looking at it..my dp is a lot younger than me! and it's actually not that odd Grin

foxinsocks · 04/05/2006 19:11

I agree with expat.

The only reasons I can think of for her getting pregnant/having a baby are all selfish ones.

More fool the doctors in Italy who let it happen.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 19:12

They may be reluctant but it can happen and as (having now spend 30 mins of HFEA website - thanks to you!! Wink) there is a lot on patient confidentiality!!!!! So who is to know?

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 19:14

as to selfish reasons..mn is awash with people having babies because they want them for selfish reasons what is the difference? and what is an altruistic reason? to pay other people's pensions in the future?

juuule · 04/05/2006 19:19

Good question:) What is an unselfish reason to have a baby?

foxinsocks · 04/05/2006 19:20

how on earth is she going to manage? This job knackers the best of us and we're in our 30s/40s. God know what it will be like for her in her 60s/70s.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 19:21

What about this ? Women who continue having children late in life may live longer than those who have their kids young, research finds.
A team at Finland's University of Turku suggests women who raise a family late in life tend to die later.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 19:22

but people manage who are disabled would you deny them too? I expect she will be a different kind of parent not a worse one

loads of younger people are tired and depressed and fed up and some older ones are walking the himalyas and cycling marathons

FairyMum · 04/05/2006 19:28

Well, I might have babies for selfish reasons, but at least I know that it is very likely that both me and DH will be around for the children until they reach adulthood. I'd hate to think it was a real possibility that I might be an incontinent old lady with a walking stick who couldn't remember the name of my 16 year-old.....

Pfer · 04/05/2006 19:28

we don't have to agree with it do we? we can only express our personal opinion which is basically what we would or wouldn't do and what we do or don't find to be acceptable. it's not about denying people anything, it's about how we'd feel at that age bringing up a small child. personally, i couldn't and wouldn't do it.

foxinsocks · 04/05/2006 19:29

disabled people tend to have helpers (and sometimes they manage on their own) but either way, they are normally at an age where they can at least partake in the upbringing of the child

one of MIL's mates had a second family in his 60s. He ended up suffering all sort of nasty old-age problems as he got older (dementia, arthritis the like). Luckily, he had married a younger woman so she took over the general upbringing.

Yes, I know there's a chance that they will both be in great health at 70 but there's probably a greater chance that they won't.

zippitippitoes · 04/05/2006 19:29

what about parents who travel a lot..they may well be killed or injured in accidents, or indeed who are employed in dangerous jobs?

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 19:30

Fairymum, totaly agree.

The first time your mother doesn't recognise you is heart breaking.

And while some poeple are climbing mountains at 80, in reality most are not. This woman has weighed up the odds and decided to take that risk, but none of us should minimise the risk.

Eulalia · 04/05/2006 19:30

Crikey didn't realise people found my dh "cringeworthy" - he's 60 and we had our 3rd child last year. I know a lot of people mistake him for our kids grandad but didn't realise they may find this offensive in some way :( The thing is men are fertile naturally into their 70s or even longer so why is it horrible?

Sorry bit of a bug bear with me. Not totally relevant to this story of course.

foxinsocks · 04/05/2006 19:31

but old age happens to everyone whether you like it or not

you can choose not to travel, you can choose whether you ski or dive but no-one can slow down the inevitable end of life

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 19:32

Zippy, true....but all these risks are as well as the risks that come with age. No-one is saying that being young makes you safe. It doesn't. But those risks are also there for all these fit mountain climbing 80 year olds Grin

Risks are cumulative, not exclusive.

I could get hit by a bus, an 80 year old will have a similar risk, I would think. But she has a 1/5 risk of dementia and I don't

juuule · 04/05/2006 19:35

But you can't stop doing things because you might be dead or worse by the time you're 20, 30, 40......70,80,90.... We are all dying from the day we are born. (cheerful thought,eh)