Alignment between expectations and experiences of egg donors: what does it mean to be informed?

Tober, Diane; Garibaldi, Christina; Blair, Alden; Baltzell, Kimberly

doi:10.1016/j.rbms.2020.08.003

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…The importance of timing of information provided on known and unknown risks, for example, was evaluated by egg donors as critical to their autonomy. Egg donors, who undergo an identical procedure as egg freezers, felt that being told about immediate side-effects shortly before getting injections or surgery prevented them from making a different decision about undergoing the procedure (Tober et al 2020, 8). As a gateway to the egg freezing process, informational events play a critical role in initiating informed-consent procedure.…”

Section: Affect and Sociality Of Egg-freezing Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruiting Egg Freezers via Informational Events: Affect, Sociality, and the Question of Informed Consent

Bhatia

2022

Hypatia

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The commercialization of egg freezing for fertility preservation spawned a market in information and education as much as in clinical services. Even before there was a technically viable mode to freeze eggs, Christy Jones envisioned “educational seminars” as a key “marketing and education” programmatic strategy in her 2004 contest-winning business plan for an egg freezing company at Harvard Business School. A decade and a half after Jones first proposed them, in-person informational events have become an industry trend. Given the transparent objective of recruiting paying clients, these events must inevitably combine persuasion with education. Through participant observation at three such information sessions held by different clinics in a large city in the eastern US, I present an analysis of their content and form. The article examines the extent to which these events adhered to guidelines on securing informed consent and how the form of these events produce a complex blend of affect and sociality that likely affect how information is received. I argue that egg freezing informational events employ subtle techniques of persuasion that cultivate anxiety and link egg freezing to desirable traits or lifestyles through social enactment.

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Section: Affect and Sociality Of Egg-freezing Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recruiting Egg Freezers via Informational Events: Affect, Sociality, and the Question of Informed Consent

Bhatia

2022

Hypatia

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“…Furthermore, donors who did report knowledge of risks perceived them to be minor, suggesting that they were not aware of more serious complications (i.e., cancer). A recent study by Tober et al (2020) demonstrated that 55% of previous egg donors did not feel well informed about potential long-term complications.…”

Section: Prospect Theory and Anchoring Heuristicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, current evidence demonstrates that donors’ awareness of both short-term and long-term medical risks is far from adequate (Gezinski et al, 2016; Kenney & McGowan, 2010; Tober et al, 2020). A U.S. study with previous egg donors revealed that 20% did not recall being aware of any medical risks, and the majority of participants reported being unaware of potential LTMR such as infertility/subfertility and cancer (Kenney & McGowan, 2010).…”

Section: Neoliberalism and The Egg Donation Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The long-term medical risks of egg donation: Contributions through psychology.

Kocas¹,

Pavlenko²,

Yom³

et al. 2021

Translational Issues in Psychological Science

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Although the egg donation industry in the United States is expanding rapidly, there is a gap in research on the long-term medical risks of egg donation. Scholars have raised concern that current risk communication practices fail to provide donors with comprehensive information on the risks of donation, thus compromising their ability to provide fully informed consent. First, we situate this article within scholarship that has brought attention to the ways in which neoliberalism has shaped the egg donation industry, drawing light to the incentive structures and power imbalances among key actors. Second, we apply prospect theory and the anchoring heuristic to demonstrate how donors' initial exposure to information during recruitment, as well as the way in which risk is framed throughout, may have enduring implications on their perception and decision making, thereby potentially compromising their health. In the Recommendations section of this article, we call for empirical testing of these theories with egg donors and propose policies that safeguard donors' health and well-being.What is the significance of this article for the general public?By demonstrating how neoliberalism has shaped the egg donation industry, this article draws on psychological science to reveal how current risk communication practices compromise donors' ability to provide fully informed consent. We discuss research and policy recommendations that center egg donors' agency, health, and well-being.

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“…The storage and use of oocytes taken for clinical/therapeutic reasons or non-medical reasons can be carried out by both public and private institutions or other clinical organization, through egg sharing, voluntary egg donation, and so-called “social freezing” [ 18 ]. According to 2016 data from the Center for disease control and prevention, donated oocytes were used in about 9% of all assisted fertilization procedures with a doubling of the demand for donated oocytes between 2005 and 2016 [ 19 ].…”

Section: Oocyte Preservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oocyte Biobanks: Old Assumptions and New Challenges

Tozzo

2021

BioTech

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The preservation of fertility is a clinical issue that has been emerging considerably in recent decades, as the number of patients of childbearing age who risk becoming infertile for many reasons is increasing. The cryopreservation technique of oocytes has been developed for many years and nowadays constitutes a method of safe storage with impressive efficacy and high rates of successful thawing. The storage and use for research of oocytes taken for medical or non-medical can be carried out by both public and private structures, through egg sharing, voluntary egg donation and so-called “social freezing” for autologous use. This paper focuses on the oocyte bank as an emerging cryopreservation facility, in which a collaboration between public and private and the creation of a network of these biobanks can be useful in enhancing both their implementation and their functions. Good oocyte biobank practice would require that they be collected, stored, and used according to appropriate bioethical and bio-law criteria, collected and stored according to procedures that guarantee the best preservation of their structural components and a high level of safety, connected with appropriate procedures to protect the rights and privacy of the parties involved and associated with the results of the bio-molecular investigations that will be carried out gradually.

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Alignment between expectations and experiences of egg donors: what does it mean to be informed?

Cited by 23 publications

References 73 publications

Recruiting Egg Freezers via Informational Events: Affect, Sociality, and the Question of Informed Consent

Recruiting Egg Freezers via Informational Events: Affect, Sociality, and the Question of Informed Consent

The long-term medical risks of egg donation: Contributions through psychology.

Oocyte Biobanks: Old Assumptions and New Challenges

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