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

Abstract

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.

Prospect Theory: A Bibliometric and Systematic Review in the Categories of Psychology in Web of Science

“…There have been many examples of successful use of PT in modeling decision making in health care settings. For example, it has been used to model health behaviors such as disease treatment [ 26 ], disease prevention [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], and encouraging altruistic behaviors such as egg donation [ 32 ]. On the one hand, Fridman et al [ 26 ] investigated the relationship between physicians’ gain-loss recommendations and prostate cancer patients’ treatment choices.…”

Engaging public policy with psychological science.

“…The paper by Fountain et al (2021) examines how public perceptions of developmental science might shape the creation and implementation of laws and policies directed at young adults who are alleged to have committed criminal offenses. Kocas et al (2021) turn to reproductive technology and the communication of medical risks, examining the forces that have shaped the egg donation industry. They apply theories about risk framing and decision making to argue for the importance of understanding how the current system governing reproductive technology may do a disservice to donors, placing the onus on the donor to seek out information and undermining the likelihood they can give fully informed consent to medical procedures.…”

Mitochondria donation treatment – is this procedure a risk-free strategy?

“…Also, as this is a highly delicate and complex procedure requiring the retrieval of eggs from the maternal parent as well as the donor mother, it carries the risk of causing clinical harm to the donor. There is substantial evidence from the scientific literature on the short and long-term medical threats to egg donors, although the exact cause of such adversity has not been clearly pointed to egg donation [6] .…”