Volume 1

Statutory storage period for embryos : report by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority to the Health Ministers of the United Kingdom.

  • Great Britain. Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority
Date:
[1995]
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Statutory storage period for embryos : report by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority to the Health Ministers of the United Kingdom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/20 page 12
    in the couple’s consent forms; © clinics to offer to take an active part in helping couples reach the right decision for them about what is to happen to embryos; @ couples to acknowledge in the consent forms that they have a responsibility to inform the clinic of any change in their circumstances which might affect the storage of embryos; and ® couples who store embryos for their own use to acknowledge in their consent forms that the embryos will be allowed to perish on a particular date unless they use them beforehand or change their consent to allow an alternative use. (If embryos were produced using donated gametes, the consents of both parties must be checked to ensure that they remain compatible. ) 49. The HFEA will expect clinics to satisfy themselves that they have done everything possible to contact couples with whom they have lost touch. This should include writing to the last known address, telephoning and contacting the couple’s general practitioner or any other suitable third party. Clinics will, of course, need to take account of the confidentiality provisions of the HFE Act and take care not to divulge information about the couple’s treatment, as well as any specific requirement by the patients about contacting them. 50. |The HFEA recognises that, whilst clinics should do all they can to stay in contact with patients who have embryos in storage, there is a limit to what they can reasonably achieve. Indeed the responsibility of the couple to stay in contact with the clinic where they have embryos in storage should always be stressed. 51. Whatever the conclusion reached by the Secretary of State and Parliament, guidance will » also be needed in the short term to advise clinics what they should tell patients who have had embryos in storage for over 4 years. Standard information to be given to patients or donors should include: @ a reminder of the date on which their embryos were stored; @ the current legal position in respect of the maximum storage period for embryos; @ that the matter is under review and that it is for the Department of Health and
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3