Doctors have room for artificial insemination

Verdict: Rigid restrictions on artificial insemination have been relaxed

08/07/2014

New hope for couples with unfulfilled desire for children in artificial insemination. The public prosecutor's office Munich I yesterday brought a case against reproductive medicine from the Bavarian capital, which had artificially fertilized more than three eggs in the Petri dish. The law stipulates that only three embryos may be implanted in a woman. How many oocytes can be fertilized beforehand, was so far unclear.

Artificial insemination less regulated
The legal situation in Germany gives physicians more freedom in artificial insemination than previously assumed. Although women are only allowed to use three embryos to avoid multiple pregnancies, the number of eggs previously fertilized in the Petri dish is not limited to three, as the public prosecutor's office Munich I clarified yesterday. She stopped a case against reproduction physicians from the Bavarian capital, who did not adhere to the rigid restriction on the number of eggs to be fertilized.

„Thus, the prosecution has finally clarified, "said the lawyer of the practice and Justiziar the Bavarian Professional Association of Reproductive Medicine, Johannes Daunderer, the news agency „dpa“. So far it was disputed whether it is permissible to fertilize more than three oocytes, so that therefore already against several physicians was determined juridically. At the same time, yesterday's discontinuation of the procedure against the Munich reproductive medicine means that excess oocytes no longer have to be destroyed, as has hitherto been done in practice. Couples with an unfulfilled wish to have children have a greater chance of having a child.

Furthermore, no license for doctors in artificial insemination
The prosecution explained its decision to close the case so that the legislator expressly limits only the number of embryos that can be implanted in a woman, not the number of ova to be fertilized. „According to the current state of science, only about every fifth fertilization is successful, which of course may vary from case to case and can not be determined exactly in advance. If only three oocytes were fertilized from the outset, the chances of success would be so low that adequate treatment would no longer be possible, "writes the prosecutor in her decision.

In conversation with the Internet portal „T-Online“ Daunderer expressly pointed out that the termination of the procedure, however, is not a license for doctors to fertilize any number of oocytes. „Stock fertilization is not permitted. "In the case of fertility treatment, it is the physician's responsibility to make an individualized prognosis of the number of eggs to be fertilized necessary to produce three viable embryos Woman who has an impact on her reproductive ability. „That can be three, or six - under certain circumstances, sometimes 15 are needed, "said Daunderer to the Internet portal.