Letters to the Editor
bluedahlia
Published Letters: 5
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PGD, older women & multiples
[Read the article: In search of a fertility fix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My doctor, too, cites the unknown risk to an otherwise healthy embryo as well as the financial burden as reasons for approaching pgd with caution. It doesn't seem farfetched that any invasive procedure to an 8-cell (or less) embryo is at minimum a stressor. By the age of 40, 50-60% of a woman's eggs are chromosomally abnormal (they didn't teach us this in sex ed!), drastically reducing the odds of a successful pregnancy in any given cycle. My understanding is that PGD is not indicated for prevention of multiple pregnancy so much as it is to identify chromosomally abnormal embryos and avoid their transfer, the potential resulting miscarriage and/or a fetus that cannot develop into a healthy child but survives to birth and possibly beyond. The latter, of course, opens another painful discussion thread.
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5 years and counting
[Read the article: In search of a fertility fix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]StCheryl, you give me hope!
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the more things change....
[Read the article: Shocker: Angela Merkel has boobs!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]for what it's worth, my 75 year old German mom's first reaction was a little OMG, followed very quickly by a "good for her!" followed by a tart comment about the typical American woman's complete lack of appropriate dress for the opera.
Me, I'm happy that her assets are rather common in the Germanic gene pool.... I'd love to borrow that gown in a couple years!
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Laurel, If domestic adoption were free...
[Read the article: Little girl lost, little girl found]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd have a child by now. Adoption in this country, however, is most definitely NOT free. Rather, even domestic adoptions cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, despite the $10k Federal tax credit (if it still exists?). For couples who have already spent considerable sums attempting to conceive a biological child, this may prove more than they can tackle. I think people ought to be a little more careful in judging those desiring a biological child and seeking the medical assistance to realize that particular dream. There are myriad reasons why couples undergo fertility treatments, the culprit is not always maternal age. Having sat in a fertility clinic's offices for five years during my mid-thirties, I can assure you there are many, many shockingly young couples undergoing treatment. Echoing what another poster has said, I also have friends who do not entertain the idea of a domestic adoption because they do not want to lose their adopted child to biological parents who make a claim a year or more down the line.
For what it's worth, our plan was always to have a child and then adopt another. After the aforestated five years, we now find we can't afford to adopt without going into serious debt. This is our dilemma, the clock ticks.
My heart breaks for parents who have lost a child, whether to death or unwanted adoption for whatever reason. That we as a society seem not nearly as quick to sympathize as we are to judge is troubling and sad.
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@ sethgoldman
[Read the article: Wonder Woman on Sarah Palin ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wonder Woman's invisible jet was cleary solar powered (did you ever see her tanking up?). Hence, no need to offload it on ebay.