Draft material to appear in Getting Pregnant When You Thought You Couldn't (Spring, 2001)

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New Edition of Getting Pregnant When You Thought You Couldn't To Appear in the Spring 2001

Using A Donor Broker

USING A DONOR BROKER: WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

Donor brokers always seem to make the news. Ads that suggest that all former donors are models, actresses, brain surgeons, or physicists seem very appealing to recipients in a hurry. Donor brokers run the gamut: from honest and reliable to despicable. Because of sensational ads promising everything under the sun, it's easy to see why these brokers have grabbed media attention.. With notebooks filled with photos and bios, or attractive websites with click-of-the-mouse matching, the donor broker seems to enticingly have what you want. But, as you investigate what the broker has to offer, make sure you ask important questions.

Recruitment: How are donors recruited? Where are ads? How large is the operation of the donor broker firm? Does the recruiter work in one state and recruit donors in other states, never actually meeting the donor face-to-face?

Numbers. For how many procedures have they provided donors? How many donors are currently available? Do they provide statistics in terms of numbers of pregnancies and/or success rates? (Remember that no bureau oversees statistical claims except those made by a medical practice).

Screening: How is the donor screened psychologically and medically? What tests or profiles are part of the typical screening package? Can you request additional tests over and above this package and what is the charge? How much of the information is self-report and how much of the information is verified by the broker? For example, when the donor provides a photo, who can vouch for the fact that the donor looks like her photograph or indeed is the person in the photograph? Or, if the donor says that she has achieved 1300 on her SAT, for example, does she supply an official notification of that result? When the donor takes a psychological test, like the MMPI, is it administered by a psychologist who remains in the room or can the donor take it home and return it by mail?

Repeat Donors. If the donor has been a donor before, can your medical facility get cycle notes and stimulation sheets from her previous cycles?

Degree of Anonymity Does the broker provide photographs of the donor and her immediate family? Who verifies that these photos are legitimate? Can the recipient talk to the donor? Can the recipient meet the donor?

Commitment: How many donors have completed cycles? How many donors have dropped out of cycles? Once selected, how is the cycle scheduled?

Ability to Travel. Does the recipient need to travel to the location of the donor? If the donor must come to where the recipient is, how many times and for what length of time must the donor be at the recipient’s practice?

Fees/Insurance/Travel Costs. What are the fees paid to the broker? to the donor? What legal, insurance, travel, hotel, per diem costs are over and above the broker and donor fees?

Logistics and Reponsibility Who does the donor's injections if she must travel away from home? What protection do you have from the broker if something goes wrong with the donor? If, after testing negative before being chosen, she tests positive for drugs during the cycle? She doesn’t respond to the medication?

Practice's Policy on Use of Donor’s Screened Elsewhere. Will your practice consider using a donor screened elsewhere? Will they need to rescreen? Will the donor need to travel to the practice prior to starting the procedure? Can the donor start her cycle and be monitored near her home before coming to your area for the week prior to retrieval?

It is the main goal of a donor broker to sell their services to you. Rarely, if ever, do they have a “personal” relationship with you. They have a business relationship with you and want you to use a donor from their pool Recipients tell us that they would never buy fertility medications over the internet, yet they turn around and use the services of a donor broker, who provides information on the internet. Use caution in your move to a donor broker.

Recently, we had an experience with a donor broker who was working with Louisa, one of our clients. Louisa was looking for a donor who was very “WASP”y—someone tall, thin, family originally from England and Scotland, with an already earned college degree. The representative from Broker Deluxe told Louisa that Alexis, a donor who fit the bill perfectly, had been “recruited”, but not personally screened. Louisa could only think about the perfect match, not the screening. Even though the Louisa had to fly the donor to New Jersey from Montana and pay for her hotel while she was being screened, Louisa was certain that Alexis would pass all the physical and psychological screening.

We all loved Alexis; she passed the psychological screening and all the personal interview phases of our practice’s screening. It was only when Alexis filled out the detailed medical screening form and was in the process of discussing her answers with the nurse coordinator that it came up that Alexis’ family had a family history of Huntington’s Disease. Alexis mother had only recently shown signs of it and Alexis herself was unwilling to be tested for that disease. Alexis could not be a donor under those circumstances. Of course, we were sad for Louisa who was disappointed that she needed to go back to the drawing board in her search for a suitable donor, but sadder for Alexis who faced a fifty percent chance of getting the disease herself. Prescreening the donor could have saved time, money, and heartache.

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