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Anonymous (reply to Davina Fankhauser)

Davina,
What disease do you refer to? Infertility? Infertility is, in itself, not a disease. Rather, infertility is an outcome of various diseases. Health Insurance already pays for the treatment of a very wide range of diseases that cause infertility. For example, I had endometriosis. The treatment for this disease was surgery. Insurance covered the treatment just fine. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and many other diseases are treated and Insurance pays for them too.
A "disease" is a term that basically means, "something is wrong" and it should be treated. Infertility, imo, is not a "disease" that should be "treated" by artificially impregnating people. Insurance companies share the same opinion. They already pay to treat the causes of infertility. They just don't pay to have people artificially impregnated. Your post suggests that infertility is a disease. A woman who is infertile is not always diseased. In fact, I would hesitate to even suggest that fertile women are the only healthy ones. Many healthy women are infertile and in no need of treatment.
Another assumption that your post suggests is that women who use IVF are always infertile. Many women use IVF who are NOT infertile. Are insurance companies supposed to pay for their babies too? Answer: No.
I'm very aware of the studies that indicate people are less likely to be reckless when insurance companies pay for their IVF treatments. I do believe that US Healthcare reform will help address this issue in due time. However, I'm uncomfortable with putting businesses in the position of teaching ethical behavior, although many of them do. I think it's better to let members of society teach each other.
In other words, it's good for people to hear disapproval from their fellow human beings, even though it hurts feelings. That's how we learn from each other.
Being reckless with human life is wrong. Period. There's no excuse for it. This is not a "miracle". It's reckless endangerment. If a parent didn't use a baby seat when transporting an infant, would we feel grateful fo the miracle of life if the child were struggling to survive after a car accident? Would we feel good watching that child breathe with the aid of a ventilator? Would we chuckle and offer support if the parents expressed "surprise"?. Let the parents of these sextuplets, who are fighting for their lives learn that what they did is wrong. This will help teach other IVF parents and their physicians ethics. In time, this will hopefully lead to legislation. People who hurt children through reckless IVF treatment should be held accountable.

June 9, 2011 - 1:57pm

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