SOCIAL INFERTILITY

Dr Cook offers fertility treatment for single women and same sex female couples. The fertility services are through Monash IVF Bondi. Each woman has a baseline fertility assessment including blood tests and pelvic ultrasound. Counselling is required as per the NSW Reproductive Act.

It is mandatory for the woman to have a three month “cooling off period” prior to commencing treatment.

Fertility treatment can be either insemination or IVF. All treatment cycles attract a medicare rebate.

Donor sperm

Donor sperm is provided by the Monash IVF Bondi sperm bank. The donors are recruited locally from NSW. They are thoroughly screened for any significant personal or family medical history or genetic disorders.

Mandatory testing includes an infection screen (HIV, Hepatitis B and C, VDRL, Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea), karyotype and cystic fibrosis testing. Each donor completes a detailed questionnaire including if they have children already, interests, occupation, highest level of education achieved. The donor details are recorded and de-identified.

The donor must also undergo mandatory counselling prior to donating sperm. This is aimed at helping the donors understand the implications of being a donor.

The NSW Reproductive Act is strictly followed. The donor must understand that he can be contacted by any offspring created using his sperm when the offspring turns 18 years. All donor births are recorded in a Donor Registry.

The donor cannot contact the offspring or the mother (donor sperm recipient). The donor sperm recipient cannot contact the donor.

Monash IVF Bondi also has access to overseas donor sperm which has also been thoroughly screened.

The sperm is firstly tested to ensure it is adequate to use in fertility treatment cycles to result in a pregnancy. The sperm is then frozen and quarantined. After the quarantine period has passed, the donor is again tested for any infections. If all results are negative, the sperm can be used in a treatment cycle.

The donor sperm coordinator  from Monash is available to answer all your questions. She will assist you in choosing the right donor for you.

Donor Eggs - World Egg Bank

Donor eggs are used by women whose own eggs are unable to achieve a pregnancy. The most common reason would be age-related. Monash IVF Bondi has access to the World Egg Bank. These eggs have been altruistically donated by women aged 21-29years. The World Egg Bank is based in America.

The World Egg Bank co-ordinator from Monash IVF Bondi will explain the process and help you to choose the right egg donor. The frozen eggs are then brought into Monash IVF Bondi for use in treatment cycles.

This will involve fertilising the eggs with either your partner’s sperm or with donor sperm. ICSI is used to fertilise the eggs. The resulting embryos are then transferred to your uterus at the correct time in the menstrual cycle.

Medications including oestrogen and progesterone can be given to prepare the lining of the uterus for embryo transfer.