Information or Misinformation?

Fertility Buyers Beware

By Teri Brown

Books. Magazines. The Internet. With the wealth of fertility information available at their fingertips, couples are often overwhelmed by their choices. Often when searching for fertility information, what they're finding is fertility misinformation. But how do they separate the wheat from the chafe?

In a 2002 article, The British Medical Journal states, "Only one in 50 health websites on infertility meets basic standards for quality and accountability." With so much of the information offered lacking credible statistics and facts, how is the average person supposed to separate fact from fiction? Compound that with the news stories on fertility fraud, such as the doctor who impregnated women with his own sperm, and the well known fertility clinic that took the embryos from one couple and gave them to other couples without permission, and people can feel confused by the weight of their choices.

Elizabeth Mlotkiewicz of Wichita, Kan., remembers what it was like looking for solid fertility information, especially when it came to the Internet. "I was skeptical and cautious, but if I found multiple sites confirming the same information, I felt pretty comfortable with its accuracy," she says. "Corroboration was my measuring stick."

In the end, she trusted her doctors far more than she did the information on the Web. "My first source for both education and fertility treatments was my family doctor," says Mlotkiewicz. "I also questioned my doctor ruthlessly. I paid for his service – there is no insurance for fertility treatments – and since I paid, I felt absolutely free to ask as many questions as I liked. I asked about drugs and treatments and other options. He was quite willing to answer my questions."

Dr. Daniel Potter, reproductive endocrinologist and the medical director for the Huntington Reproductive Center, believes that caution is best when looking for solid fertility information. "There is certainly a lot of misleading information out there, particularly on the Internet," he says. "There are many astonishing claims. Unfortunately, there are also many people that believe these claims and invest financially and emotionally in them. There is a group that purports to have the ability to open damaged fallopian tubes with massage therapy. There is an infertility diet out there. There is a program with subliminal messages that purports to help with infertility. Would any of these things improve a very low sperm count or repair a tube damaged by infection? No."

Dr. Lawrence Werlin, endocrinologist, founder and director of Coastal Fertility Medical Center in Irvine, Calif., and co-founder of Corona Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Fertility in Corona, Calif., believes there are both advantages and disadvantages to the wealth of information the Internet offers. "There is an abundance of information on fertility treatments and centers especially on the Internet," he says. "This is a benefit and can be equally perplexing for couples trying to research reliable information."

Want to see more?

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• The Infertility Marketplace: What to Ask a Healthcare Provider
• Talk about it!