From an egg donor recipient:

“I asked our fertility clinic to send out information to the other egg donor recipients – to let them know about the DSR and to let them know that at least one egg donor recipient wishes to find any half siblings who were conceived from the same egg donor. The egg donor coordinator related that she checked with her physicians who have decided at this time, since it is an anonymous program, that they are not going to send out any  information to the other egg donor recipients.  The egg donor said that she can’t guarantee that the clinic will ever do something like that, but there are changes happening in the industry and maybe at some point this kind of information will be given to egg donor recipients.  She said that she believes that most egg donor recipients are “savvy” about all aspects of egg donation and most likely know about the DSR site and will look at it if they wish to do so.

The egg donor coordinator did say that she will forward any letter I write to her anonymously to the egg donor.  When the clinic receives the letter they try to find the egg donor – she moved without giving them a new address and they are not sure where she is at this point.”

This egg donation coordinator’s response on behalf of the physicians was disturbing, but very insightful. How many clinics lose track of their egg donors? Why wouldn’t they want their donors and recipient families to have the choice of mutual consent contact on the DSR?  It’s important for people to understand before choosing a clinic or agency that some are very closed when it comes to the issues and rights of the families and the donors and how important it might be for families to contact each other. Our published research indicated that more than 63% of egg donors felt that they were not adequately educated by their clinics and that 97% of them were never contacted for an updated medical record.

This is from a mom in the largest donor offspring group that we are aware of on the DSR. Currently, there are more than 125 children reported. Many of the moms have removed their DSR postings as they became afraid of media and losing their privacy. (One mom from this groups reports another 4 unverified children also being born from this donor. )

“I can tell you that the guy from Fairfax is possibly ill informed but more likely lying to you. I used FF donor xxxx. There are over 100 babies that I am aware of and more coming. Fairfax is now allowing sale on the secondary market and we just found out about a doctor buying directly from them and using the sperm for IUI.

I wouldn’t believe what they tell you because a number of moms from my group called them to complain over and over and they basically said, “too bad”. It wasn’t until they threatened to go to the press that Fairfax claimed they pulled him. He is not available on their site but we now know his sperm is still being sold. {Note from Wendy: a mother who bought the sperm from the “secondary market” that Fairfax sells to is pregnant and reports that she was refused the donor profile from Fairfax.}

I think Fairfax is a huge company. They do what they do to make money and are not particularly concerned about the individuals involved. They have a nice website and attract lots of buyers but after you find out the real deal.”

She was responding to this post of mine from a few weeks ago:

When I spoke to Fairfax’s Dr. Pool at the ASRM meeting in October he was shocked to know that Fairfax had large numbers of half sibling groups. He was shocked to hear that Fairfax had the largest groups on the DSR. He said that he could have known this if he had access to the DSR. When I informed him that since the DSR began anyone could browse the website and look at all the Fairfax listings and groups he was again, shocked. (Fairfax employees have indeed been on our site, for years). He didn’t seem to be aware of any of the mothers of the large groups calling in to inquire as to why their sibling groups were so large.