Artificial insemination - the reverse side of the miracle

Children born from artificial insemination are invaluable gifts for infertile couples. But the price of this technique, both in money and health, is not small.

Kerry and Jeff Mastera from Aurora, Colorado (USA) still can't forget the feeling of first seeing two twin boys Max and Wes when they were born on February 16, ahead of time. 9 weeks, at the Swedish Medical Center in Denver (Colorado). ' Fear. Children look like aliens. They must breathe through the air and feed on a tube. They are so small that it feels like my husband's wedding ring can fit on each person's feet . '

Two children of Mastera at 2 months of age, each weighs just over 1.3kg at birth. Photo: NYT.

However, the joy of being a parent helps them quickly forget that feeling. To be able to witness the wonderful moment of birth of the children, the couple Mastera has 4 times tried to pump sperm into the womb but failed. Finally, they decided to go to in vitro fertilization (IVF). Kerry soon became pregnant and unfortunately, the twins were born so quickly and had to stay in the hospital for more than 50 days after birth. The total cost for the two children until discharge was $ 1.2 million.

Until now, after 8 months, all efforts of parents have paid off when the two boys are developing normally.

Not so lucky, Erin and Scott Hare, in Houston, have lost their daughters in twins, also born with IVF technology. The other son, Carter, was born at just over 24 weeks, though still alive, but had long-term medical care.

An obstetric industry survey shows that IVF successes are expensive. While IVF helps to create thousands of new families each year, the number of twins is also increasing, and they often have special risks that are often overlooked when people are thirsty for children.

US government data show that 60% of babies born with IVF are premature. This increases the risk of death in the early days and other types of illnesses, such as mental retardation, eye and ear defects and poor learning later. Women who are pregnant with twins also have a much higher risk of pregnancy complications.

According to a study published last week by the March of Dimes, in vitro fertilization is one of the main causes of premature delivery by 36% over the last 25 years.

' The problem is that doctors often ignore the advice of experts that only one embryo should be placed in the mother's uterus. The use of additional embryos as a kind of safe prevention helps doctors overcome the pressure of having children by couples, but increases the risk of premature twins ', Dr. William E. Gibbons, Chairman of American Obstetrics Association said.

Premature babies are an economic burden

The rate of 12.7% of premature babies in the US is now considered one of the most difficult problems in the health system. The annual cost of caring for premature babies in this country is 26 billion USD, of which one billion USD is reserved for premature babies.

Efforts in the past few years by health managers in the United States to encourage 483 artificial insemination facilities to use only one embryo seem to be ineffective. This also stems from the fact that most women under 35 in this country who participate in artificial insemination do not want to use an embryo.

' We cannot convince couples that twins from this technique are not good at all ' - Dr. Maurizio Macaluso of the US Department of Disease Control and Prevention said - ' Rapid increase in muscles The artificial insemination facility is making us very worried because more and more premature twins die or have serious illnesses in the past '. As an inevitable consequence of a fiercely competitive market, the pressure to succeed for every expensive fertilization also increases with doctors.

The boys Max and Wes now know crawling, but their parents are still very worried about their future. Photo: NYT.

For Mastera's family, the worries for the health of the children are now growing day by day. ' Every day I watched them grow up, I felt pain and really worried about their future '. Despite the fact that the two boys Max and Wes were able to crawl and stand up, Mastera still felt guilty: ' I am not sure if I will ever forget their image in the first days of hospital discharge. Sometimes I was still obsessed and could not escape thinking that I had done something wrong that they had to be born sooner than other children. '