Fertility treatment for 59-year-old provokes backlash

London: A 59-year-old woman has become the oldest person ever to be offered fertility treatment by a British clinic, overturning guidelines prohibiting treatment to women over 50.

Doctors at the private London Women's Clinic on Harley Street, one of the most successful IVF units in the country, have unanimously agreed to help Susan Tollefsen conceive.

Tollefsen, a retired teacher who turns 60 in October, said: "I'm still so full of life and healthy at 60 I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be treated."

Until last week's decision, older women have had to travel abroad for treatment so-called "fertility tourism" because Government guidelines say the NHS should not recommend IVF to women over the age of 40 and private clinics generally will not treat women older than 50.

But in a move that has provoked an ethical storm over whether post-menopausal women have the right to fertility treatment, the clinic has decided to revise its policy.

Tollefsen already has a two-year-old child, conceived at a Russian clinic after she was refused treatment in the UK because of her age.

Calls for legislation

There are now calls for an upper age limit for fertility treatment to be enshrined in law, rather than simply a guideline. Clinicians usually refuse to offer to treat women older than 50 because of health concerns, the reduced chances of success, and fears for the upbringing of children with such an old parent. Critics claim that women who put off motherhood until later in life are selfishly putting their own needs before a child's.

Clinics also risk having their licences suspended if they do not take the welfare of any resulting children into account when providing IVF treatment. However, they do not have to inform the regulators if they are treating an older woman.

Normally, private clinics treat women over 50 only in exceptional circumstances, for example if she still has a menstrual cycle.

That Tollefsen will now receive help demonstrates how concerns about upper age limits have relaxed. In sharp contrast, Elizabeth Buttle, who also gave birth at 60 in 1997, received IVF treatment only after lying about her age, telling doctors she was 49.

It is feared that last week's decision by the London Women's Clinic could lead to a flood of older women seeking treatment.

Discussion

On Saturday night, Tory MP Nadine Dorries described the plans as "preposterous" and called for Parliament to intervene with new laws setting an upper age limit for IVF.

She said: "Once you pass the point of natural conception, that's when you should stop. We need to legislate for this because inevitably society will have to pick up the cost later. Perhaps the cut-off point could be extended by a couple of years into the early 50s, but moving as far as 60 which is a huge leap is slightly preposterous.'

Bowen-Simpkins, a respected consultant and spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said he had been surprised there was so much support for treating her among his team of doctors.

He said: "No one at the clinic has seriously opposed seeing these patients as individuals. Everyone agreed we should change the policy and now treat women over the age of 50 on a case-by-case basis."