IVF on the NHS

[AB Editor]

 

This poll is closed.

Should IVF be available on the NHS?

• No. - 141 votes
• 59%
• Yes. - 97 votes
• 41%

See final stats

Stats until: 14:20 Sat 04th May 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

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[RATTER15]

So should we also say no to paying for treatment for: Drug addicts, Alcoholics, drunks, smokers, people that get injured in a fight, people that do dangerous sports, people that are careless.

Where does it end?

I see allowing someone to have the opportunity of having a baby equally deserving as spending money on any of the above!

[woofgang]

I voted no, I have no children, this is not by choice, I know how it feels. I also know that I am not defined by my fertility or otherwise and that my world does not end because I am childless.

[samak]

ratter,
You have named people who are sick. The difference is that being childless is not a sickness.

[samak]

* sick or injured

[ummmm]

My cousins wife got a tummy tuck on the NHS......because her 'baby belly' was distressing her....

She had a sympathetic doctor...

[samak]

ummmm,
Do you think it was right that taxpayers had to foot the bill for that ?

[annie0000]

not an illness or injury as such, but it is a medical condition often not brought upon themselves which does have a reasonable treatable success rate.

[annie0000]

infertility I mean, not tummy tucks!!

[RATTER15]

Samak, Maybe not a sickness in itself but will often lead to depression and distress and often a lifetime of wanting the baby and in some cultures could also lead to divorce. None of these things are self inflicted like the ones I mentioned.

Like I said, not actually a sickness as such but infertility is usually a physical disorder within the body.

[redcrx]

ummm, i know of 2 women who have had the NHS tummy tucks after having kids and not for anything more than a bit of belly wobble. what a waste of money.

[annie0000]

I had 2 Csections due to complications and am left with a bit of flab in conncetion with the way the scar is that will never ever go with diet and exercise, I would never expect the NHS to pay to fix that. Apart from anything else, do you not need about 6 weeks off work too? Do they expect their employers to pay them their salary for that?

[jno]

one of the things about the NHS is - or should be - that it's not about 'deserving'. Bad people get treated as well as good people, as long as they're ill. That's what makes it a social service rather than a charity.

Treating drug addicts is a bit of a side issue, because (I think) the real explanation for it is that it's keeping them from mugging people to support their habit. That's also a social service, though not strictly a health one. (But there is a health issue involved; addiction isn't a choice.)

So the key to drawing up priority lists isn't whether the patients are deserving; factors to be taken into account are the seriousness of the illness, the physical pain it causes, or the urgency of the need (eg treatment after accidents). The blamelessness of the patient isn't one.

[ummmm]

Samak......No, not at all....

To have a baby is a different matter though....

I have 3 children......1 was planned.....I adore my 'accidents' and I don't think any woman should be denied the opportunity to be a mother.

If a woman can't fall naturally....and goes to every extreme to have a baby. Bet she'll be a great Mother...

[jno]

maybe, ummmm.... what about 60-year-old women who have IVF? They may think they'll be great mums; I'm not sure I'd agree.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4971930.stm

I don't think this thread is about whether women should be denied the right to have a baby. It's about who pays.

[ummmm]

Obviously there should be restrictions....

My Mother isn't even 60.....

[woofgang]

sorry umm but your statement about being a great mother because she will try every way to have children is flawed. She might turn out to be totally possessive and never let the children lead normal lives, spoil the children to bits with no proper discipline, love babies but be a terrible mum to teenagers....

[sophie_1003]

Just as an aside; what do people who are arguing that NHS money should only be for sick/injured people think of abortions on the NHS?

[237SJ]

Funny you should say that woofgang. It`s by no means a pronouncement on IVF parents but the two women I know who have had babies by IVF turned out to be totally neurotic mothers.

[woofgang]

sophie_1003
"Just as an aside; what do people who are arguing that NHS money should only be for sick/injured people think of abortions on the NHS?"

contraception, morning after pill, ablation or full abortion?

[ummmm]

True woof.....it's a gamble.