Uncertainty, risks and ethics in unsuccessful in vitro fertilisation treatment cycles

Abstract

In this article we explore the results of interviewing Portuguese couples involved in unsuccessful in vitro fertilisation (IVF) programmes. We argue that the references to uncertainties and risks of IVF procedures and their implications in the mobilisation and in the actions of different social and/or professional groups should be central topics in the debates of biomedicine and bioethics in a broader sense and in local ethics of clinical research and doctor–patient relationships. These debates should incorporated the experiences of women and men who try to have a biological child by using these techniques and produce reflection about the social, cultural, technical and medical changes that will be necessary so that these technologies are increasingly successful. The medical recognition of uncertainties, risks and complications can be an important element underlying a patient-friendly medicine, because it could minimise the feeling that many patients might have, especially women, that they are to blame.

Keywords:

• ethics
• infertility
• women's health
• uncertainty
• risk
• risk perception
• practice guidelines

Acknowledgements

We thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) for financing this research. We wish to express deep gratitude to the women and men in this study for sharing their experiences with us. We would like to thank anonymous referees for the insightful comments to the first version of this paper. We also acknowledge the work of the Scientific Editing Programme of Universidade do Minho for revising this paper.