Good Morning America (ABC) - 1992-03-05 - 2 of 2 (partial)
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] If one says that it's perhaps possible
[0:03] that a pregnancy a few days after the
[0:06] missed period could possibly absorb,
[0:08] it's not known. However, it's clear that
[0:11] in the late pregnancy such as what we
[0:13] heard 16 to 18 weeks where the uh the
[0:15] the baby the fetus is already moving and
[0:18] uh that's unheard of and that's that's
[0:21] virtually impossible.
[0:22] >> Are there enough safeguards in place,
[0:23] Dr. Faulk, to to protect other women out
[0:26] there from what has happened to people
[0:28] like Debbie?
[0:30] I think there are safeguards and I think
[0:32] uh it depends uh in large part on on the
[0:35] patient on the consumer. Uh it was
[0:38] mentioned that that we're
[0:39] self-regulated. That always sounds very
[0:42] ominous that nobody's watching over us.
[0:44] The fact of the matter is most people
[0:46] who practice fertility or reproductive
[0:48] medicine are obstitrician gynecologists.
[0:51] Uh we have a board for obstetrics and
[0:53] gynecology requiring a residency
[0:55] training. It should be noted
[0:56] parathetically that Dr. Jacobson never
[0:58] took any residency at all. He was
[1:00] unqualified to be a fertility expert. He
[1:02] was not a gynecologist. Uh in addition
[1:04] to our boards for obstetrics and
[1:06] gynecology, we have a subsp specialty
[1:08] board requiring two or three further
[1:10] years of training requiring a written
[1:12] exam and an oral exam for subsp
[1:13] specialty training in reproductive
[1:15] endocrinology and infertility. There are
[1:17] some 20 reproductive endocrinologists
[1:19] boardcertified in the Washington area.
[1:22] and to to go to someone therefore who
[1:24] doesn't even have a basic residency
[1:27] training in abstetrics and gynecology uh
[1:30] uh he he clearly is not a fertility
[1:32] expert
[1:32] >> but Miss Anderson let me Andrew let me
[1:35] bring you in here because Debbie said
[1:37] that this to her this was a man who was
[1:40] renowned an expert in his field with a
[1:42] with a reputation that was terrific and
[1:46] of course she did people on people as
[1:47] they go to doctors don't always realize
[1:49] what their entire educational background
[1:51] is do you think that there's enough
[1:52] regulation.
[1:53] >> I think there's a a lot of consumer
[1:55] fraud in this area of donor
[1:57] insemination. I think one of the big
[1:59] problems and it occurs even with people
[2:01] who have specialties and who have past
[2:03] board certification is that there's
[2:05] inadequate screening. Some couples go
[2:07] for donor insemination and instead of
[2:09] getting a child, the woman ends up with
[2:10] venerial disease. Researchers from
[2:13] Centers for Disease Control have
[2:14] published a a medical article saying uh
[2:17] that there have been 10 different types
[2:18] of venerial disease that have been
[2:20] passed on through donor sperm. In
[2:22] addition, uh some couples have uh given
[2:25] birth to children with genetic defects
[2:27] that were passed on from the donor. And
[2:29] so there's a real question of adequate
[2:31] screening. There's also a question of
[2:33] the extent of sperm use. uh even though
[2:35] there are guidelines uh self-regulations
[2:38] limiting the number of of uh children a
[2:40] donor might have uh a lot of the sperm
[2:43] banks don't comply with that or
[2:44] individual practitioners uh physicians
[2:47] have already stopped two marriages they
[2:49] knew to be between children of the same
[2:50] donor self-regulation is not sufficient
[2:54] in New York when they started regulating
[2:56] in 1989
[2:58] uh six sperm banks voluntarily closed
[3:00] down because they couldn't meet the
[3:02] state regulations which were no more
[3:04] stringent than the self regulations. In
[3:06] addition, New York had to uh close down
[3:09] several sperm banks that were using
[3:10] fresh sperm only which cannot be
[3:13] adequately tested for uh the AIDS virus.
[3:16] And so I think it's it's rife with the
[3:18] potential for abuse. Many of these
[3:20] patients are like desperate cancer
[3:22] patients searching for a cure. Will try
[3:24] anything to have a baby. Uh we need to
[3:26] step in and see what actually goes on
[3:28] behind the closed doors in these
[3:30] clinics. And in the meantime, what can
[3:31] couples out there do do to try to ensure
[3:34] themselves against falling prey to this?
[3:37] >> I think some of the issues is if uh if
[3:40] the physician tells you that he's using
[3:41] donor sperm, find out what sperm bank
[3:43] he's using and call them to see if they
[3:45] actually supply that doctor, ask what
[3:47] type of screening is done for infectious
[3:49] disease and genetic diseases. Ask how
[3:52] many children the donor is allowed to
[3:53] have. call the American Association of
[3:56] Tissue Banks and find out whether they
[3:58] have done any sort of licensing of that
[4:00] particular bank. Find out if the
[4:02] director is a member of the American
[4:04] Fertility Society. There are things that
[4:07] can be done, but an and hopefully uh
[4:10] that means that only a few uh people
[4:13] could get by with shoddy practices.
[4:15] >> All right, Laura Andrews, thank you very
[4:16] much. And Dr. Richard Faulk, thank you
[4:18] both for joining us this morning. We'll
[4:20] be back.
[4:25] Get ready for
[4:31] held over Saturday 9:00 a.m. till 1000
[4:34] p.m. Your chance to buy like an employee
[4:36] at Smith's Home Furnishings. Smith's
[4:38] lowest prices are employee prices. And
[4:41] that's what you'll find Saturday.
[4:42] Employee prices on furniture,
[4:44] appliances, mattresses, computers,
[4:46] audio, and electronics. And even with
[4:48] employee prices, you can still buy with
[4:51] long-term deferred financing. So, plan
[4:53] to be at Smith Saturday between 9:00
[4:55] a.m. and 10:00 p.m.