Australian assisted reproduction clinics accused of misleading patients

This is a topic that we have addressed in depth in our Observatory [see HERE], (especially on the European and American data and the content of the brochures of most clinics), having drawn attention to how many Spanish assisted reproduction clinics claim birth rates of close to 100% on their websites, which is far from the reality. In other words, they are offering false advertising, an ethically highly reprehensible practice.

Australian assisted reproduction clinics and ACCC

Now, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has presented similar findings (see HERE), after evaluating the claims made on the websites of the major assisted reproduction clinics in Australia.

The main source of error is that the vast majority of these websites present the number of pregnancies achieved as if they were live birth rates, when it is well known that these are not comparable, since the live birth rate is always lower than the pregnancy rate.

Another source of error is that some of these clinics maintain that they offer an 85% success rate after two stimulation cycles when they do not take into account that quite some patients will have previously attended another clinic; thus, they do not include failed cycles in other centers in their statistics.

Overall, however, the ACCC review is a warning of the possible misleading advertising presented by many Australian clinics regarding the likelihood that women attending them will achieve their goal of having a child.

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