Jan 27, 2009 2:00 pm US/Central
Women Flocking To Fertility Clinics For Fast Cash
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
In these tough economic times, people are getting more creative to make ends meet.
According to fertility clinics, more and more women are turning to egg donation to earn as much as $10,000, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.
The applications are pouring in from women wanting to donate their eggs at Northeast Assisted Fertility Group in Midtown. In the last couple months, the number of applicants has doubled to about 100 a week.
"If you're motivated you can do a wonderful thing and help somebody and help yourself at the same time, but do not think that this is a way to walk into $10,000 and pick up your check," said Northeast Assisted Fertility's Sanford Bernardo.
"In fact, the payment is not for your eggs. You're not selling eggs. It's for the time and suffering involved."
Christy Bush has donated her eggs four times in the past four years, earning money to support her two children and to pay for nursing school.
According to Bernardo the ideal candidate is 21 to 30 years old, with a college education and no family history of medical problems.
The first step in the process is to fill out an extensive questionnaire. There's also a medical evaluation, lots of tests, 8-12 days of medication to stimulate your eggs and the matching process, where the recipient goes through the database of donors and chooses a match.
The whole process can take months, and the donor only gets paid if she makes it to the end, and her eggs are retrieved.
"I'd say out of every 100 applications we get maybe five to 10 who will actually go to retrieval, get matched and get retrieved, and then once donors do it once they tend to want to do it again, at least three or four times," Northeast Assisted Fertility's Kathy Bernardo said.
A woman can donate her eggs up to six times, and the process is anonymous. The donor doesn't meet the recipient of her eggs and will not find out if her donation resulted in a successful pregnancy.
There can be some pain involved in the retrieval process. Experts say a donor may experience side effects similar to those during pre-menstrual syndrome.
The Bernardos say 50 percent of every donation normally results in a live birth.
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