英国BBC放送:不妊治療は詐欺
『懐妊・子育て一考』 2019/7/25(木)
尚、私は1997年頃に、不妊治療を行う東京のレディスクリニックに仕事柄訪問し、不妊治療の実態を知りました。当時でも不妊治療の費用は１夫婦当たり４００万円強と記憶しています。それに、これらの夫婦は２０歳過ぎから２７歳までが大半で、然も、住居地は原発施設周辺であったことに驚いたものです。
Older women exploited by IVF clinics, says fertility watchdog
Older women are being exploited by IVF clinics "trading on hope", the fertility watchdog has warned.
Sally Cheshire, chairwoman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), told the Daily Telegraph some private clinics were using "selective success rates" to target older women.
ヒトの受精および胚研究認可局（HFEA）の議長であるSally Cheshireは、英紙デイリー・テレグラフに、一部の私立診療所では高齢女性を対象とした「選択的成功率」（註１）を使用していると語った。（註１）実態の一部、いいとこ採りの成功率。低い成功率の部分は隠している。
IVF is less likely to be successful as a woman gets older.
Since 2004 the number of women in their 40s undergoing fertility treatment has doubled to 10,835 in 2017.
The latest HFEA figures show that, among those using their own eggs, out of 2,265 embryo transfers in 2017, just 75 women aged 43 to 44 ended up with a baby.
For those over 44, the success rate was even lower - amounting to 1% between 2004 and 2017.
Mrs Cheshire told the BBC that some women were not being told their "realistic chance of success" when sold the treatment.
She said all UK clinics needed to be "transparent" about the costs involved, as well as the likely outcome.
44歳以上の女性の成功率はさらに低く、2004年から2017年の間に1％にまで低下した。
同氏は、英国のすべての診療所で、関連する費用とその結果について「透明」である必要があると述べた。
●Women 'need to know egg freezing risk'
●Women over 34 refused IVF treatment
Mrs Cheshire added that the clinics giving "selective statistics" tended to be "foreign"."If you have treatment in the UK, all those clinics are regulated by us - by and large it's a good sector," she said."What we're concerned about are more of the foreign clinics who are coming to the UK who are investing here... who absolutely are not being honest."
●女性は「卵子凍結リスクを知る必要がある」
●34歳以上の女性は体外受精の治療を（無効果故に）拒否した
チェシャー夫人は、「選択的統計（都合の良いヶ所の統計数字）」を出している診療所は「（経営者が）外国人」である傾向があると付け加えた。
「英国で治療を受けている場合、これらの診療所はすべて当社によって規制されています。概してこれは良い分野です」と彼女は言う。
「私たちが心配しているのは、英国にやって来る外国の診療所で、ここに投資しているのですが、絶対に誤魔化しがあります」。
NHS guidelines recommend that women under 40 should be offered three full cycles of IVF, while those between 40 and 42 should be offered one full cycle. However eligibility criteria vary in different areas of the country.
IVF is not usually recommended for women over the age of 42 because of low success rates.
国民健康保険（NHS）のガイドラインでは、40歳未満の女性には3回のフルサイクルの体外循環（註）を、40〜42歳の女性には1回のフルサイクルを提供するよう勧めている。 ただし、適格基準は国の地域によって異なる。
（註）
A full cycle of IVF/ICSI has been clearly defined as one in which 1 or 2 embryos are replaced into the womb as fresh embryos (where possible) with any remaining good-quality embryos frozen for use later.
完全周期のIVF / ICSIは、1〜2個の胚が新鮮な胚（可能な場合）として子宮内に置き換えられ、残りの良質の胚が後で使用するために凍結されるものとして明確に定義されている。
成功率が低いため、IVFは通常42歳以上の女性には推奨せず。
What is In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)?
●An egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory
●The fertilised egg is then returned to the woman's womb to develop
●IVF worked for the first time on 10 November 1977. On 25 July 1978, the world's first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born
●On average, IVF fails 70% of the time
●The highest success rates are for women under 35
●On average, it takes almost four-and-a-half years to conceive with IVF
Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority/Fertility Network UK
●卵を女性の卵巣から取り出し、実験室で精子で受精させます
●その後、受精卵は女性の子宮に戻されて発育します。
●1978年7月25日に、世界初の体外受精の赤ちゃんルイーズブラウンが生まれました。
●平均して、体外受精は時間の70％失敗します
●最高の成功率は35歳未満の女性です。
●平均して、体外受精を受胎するのに約4年半かかります
出典：人間の受精と発生機関/出生ネットワーク英国
Mrs Cheshire said some parts of the sector were using "blatant" sales tactics to persuade "vulnerable" women to undergo treatment.
チェシャー夫人は、この分野のいくつかの部分が「脆弱な」女性に治療を受けるよう説得するために「露骨な」販売戦略を使っていたと述べた。
The 50-year-old said she had even been offered IVF treatments herself, by staff who were unaware of her role with the regulator, at a visit to a fertility show in Manchester.
"We now see things like 'guaranteed baby or your money back','' she told the Telegraph.
「私たちは今、「赤ん坊出生の保証や不出生の場合の返金」のようなものを考えています」と彼女はテレグラフに言った。
Add-on treatments
追加治療
Mrs Cheshire also called for the watchdog to be given powers to regulate prices, saying that some private centres were charging up to £20,000 for cycles - four times as much as she said treatments should cost.
チェシャー夫人はまた、いくつかの私営センターは1サイクルで最高2万ポンドを課金していた - 治療にかかる金額の4倍であると述べ、監視機関に価格規制の権限を与えることを求めた。
She said prices were often inflated by the growing use of "add-on treatments", such as embryo glue and endometrial scratches, offered by clinics to boost chances of success.
彼女は、成功の可能性を高めるために診療所で提供されている、胚接着剤や子宮内膜の引っかき傷などの「追加治療」の使用の増加によって価格が高騰することが多いと述べた。
Caroline's story: 'Am I throwing away my money?'
キャロラインの物語：「私は自分のお金を捨てているでしょうか？」
Caroline, 40, wishes someone had sat her down and given her a realistic cost for her IVF treatment but says that often medical staff do not know for sure.
She was originally led to believe the cost would be £5,000 but it is now at least £16,000.
彼女は当初コストが5000ポンドになるだろうと説明されていたが、それは今少なくとも16000ポンドです。※ぼったくり。
"The list of treatment costs is just jargon and there are so many options. I think I needed someone to sit me down and say to me 'this is you and this is what it will cost'," she said.
The cost is not the only downside of IVF treatment for Caroline - the hormones have added negatively to the experience.
"I am taking some time off from treatment as I find injecting all the hormones really messes with me emotionally. The injections have bowled me over and made me completely lose it."
Adding: "When you're crying your eyes out at work it's not a good look."
However, Caroline, whose full name we are not using at her request, thinks she will continue with the treatment as she has two vials of sperm left and will likely spend another £10,000.
However, earlier this year the watchdog, which regulates all fertility services in the UK, warned that these were being offered without conclusive evidence that they increase the chance of pregnancy.
Its website now has a "traffic light" rating for such treatments. None have been given the green light, which indicates there is more than one quality trial showing the procedure is effective and safe.
The importance of 3 full cycles of IVF
（今後の記事加筆先）
