Friday, July 8, 2011

Winning the lottery



Did you hear about the IVF lotto in the UK? For about $32US, you buy a shot at around $40k in fertility treatments, which for those of you not in the know would cover several IVF cycles for most people.

Apparently, this has cause some controversy. To quote from the article, "... critics were already rounding on the scheme last night, with one claiming it "demeaned" the nature of human rephttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifroduction." Really? I hate to break it to you, but those of us dealing with infertility are quite used to feeling "demeaned" whenever we have an RE appt: ever hear of a transvaginal ultrasound wand? As I believe I've said before, at this point, you could put a billboard of my crotch over Interstate 95 & I wouldn't care; everyone's seen it anyways.

And to those who wonder about the ethics of doing something like this, may I point out that anytime you undertake a fertility treatment you are basically playing the lotto because most times, you don't get pregnant. Who in their right mind would gamble $20k doing IVF on odds that are less than 50/50 in most cases? Ask any woman dealing with infertility who has such funds saved up after months or years of saving & they'd likely raise their hand. Or ask an infertile woman who is lucky enough to have insurance coverage how grateful they are because without it they would never even have a chance at motherhood. Yes, even the mere thought that children of our own *might* exist some day makes us do what some may term "crazy things". But if such a gamble works, be it the 1st time or the 10th, it will be worth it: we will have finally won our lottery.

5 comments:

ADSchill said...

Amen sister! Well put. I used that scenario to explain how frustrated I was at spending (borrowing) a small fortune for the chance at a baby. I told my mom it was like taking 30K and dropping it on one hand or two hands of blackjack. I would NEVER do something that reckless. But I did.

Unknown said...

OMG I totally agree!!! Obviously anyone that has an issue with it can have kids with good old fashioned sex. That's just like Bill Gates condemning the real lottery and it's players. Must be nice to not even feel like you have to play. Idiot fertiles.

Twitch - Lynne said...

I wish there was something like that in the US! I would buy hundreds of dollars worth of tickets if it would save me thousands in the long run!

burnedsugar said...

Hi! I came across your journal and added you (hope you don't mind!). My husband and I are going through infertility issues as well.

The lottery ticket... wow! I do have to say though that I have an issue with it. It seems like they are taking advantage of people at one their lowest points in their lives (at least that's the case with me). Because really, someone could spend that money on many lottery tickets with a chance at a higher pot (that could then be used for fertility treatments). It's just.. weird.. and expensive. And for every winner, there are a lot of losers who now have less money to put toward treatment.

Crystal said...

I would buy a ticket!!