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The Center for Human Reproduction's (CHR) Egg Donation Program is probably the
largest in the U.S., performing hundreds of donor's cycles
every year. Our program is unique because of its large pool
of carefully selected egg donors. If you are interested
in seeing how we select our donors, visit
the web-based application process for oocyte donors.
There is a very detailed questionnaire, which represents
the screening phase of the application. Only approximately
half of the candidates who apply are invited for an in-person
interview with one of our oocyte evaluation program coordinators.
This first interview usually eliminates another 10-20% of
candidates before the remaining potential donor's face yet
another interview with one of our physicians. This is
followed by medical testing which includes infectious disease,
genetic and drug abuse testing. Only once a candidate has
cleared all of these steps is she considered a donor, ready
to be matched to a recipient. Approximately
20-25% of initial applicants are finally matched to a recipient
couple.
Most of our egg donation couples involve
anonymous donations. This assures that donor and recipients
do not know each others identity. Recipients do, however,
know every last detail of the donor's medical, genetic and
family history, her social and educational background and
her psychological make-up, inclusive of her motivations
to donate, and details of her appearance. Donors and recipient
couples are mandated to sign standard CHR Consent
forms, which will assure the respective rights of both
parties.
Recipient couples indicate their wishes in
regards to a specific egg donor by filling out an Egg
Donors Wish List. Based on the desired donor characteristics,
we then search our egg donor pool for the best-suited donor
option. Of course, no donor is ever a perfect fit. But our
large donor pool allows us to come very close most of the
time.
Once we receive the
Egg Donors Wish List from
the recipient couple, we usually can match a well fitting
donor within days. This potential donor's characteristics
are then presented to the recipient couple and they have the right
to approve or disapprove. If they
approve of the donor, we usually are in a donor's cycle
within a few days to weeks. If they disapprove, the match
is repeated until they approve of a donor.
Most matches are one to one between the donor and the recipient. The recipients then own all the egg
obtained from that one donor. On rare occasions, couples usually, for financial reasons, decide "to
share a donor." This means that they split donor costs and also split the donor's eggs. While we do not
recommend the sharing of donors, we will accommodate couples who wish to pursue this route. However,
the match-up of one donor to two Egg Donor Wish Lists is more difficult and may take more time.
CHR also offers open oocyte donations. Here donor and recipient
couples are known to each other. Most cases of open (non-anonymous)
donations involve family members. However, we still require
that the potential donors undergo the routine screening
process and qualify under CHR criteria to be an oocyte donor.
The financial risk of any adverse outcome happening to the donor, as small as it may be, usually lies
with the recipient couple. As a routine commitment to the Egg Donation Program, CHR requires recipient
couples to buy, in conjunction with each donation cycle, an insurance policy for the donor, which secures medical and third party insurance risks, without breach of confidentiality.
Because we are very concerned about
high order multiple births, we strongly recommend in egg
donation cycles, where most donors are very young, that
only one to three embryos be transferred. Nevertheless, we
have outstanding pregnancy rates in these cycles, exceeding
50%. Most egg donation cycles,
especially in a single donor/recipient match, will result
in additional embryos being cryopreserved. They offer significant opportunity for additional pregnancies.
CHR has no age limit for recipients, although CHR mandates a very detailed medical and psychological
screening process for women above age 45 who wish to enter the program.
Our Egg Donation Process has an international following, with couples from Europe, the Middle East,
China, the rest of Asia and South America routinely visiting our New York and Chicago locations.
We closely cooperate with physicians in many countries in preparing recipient couples for egg donation
cycles, thus keeping the time they have to spend in the U.S. to a minimum.
If you wish to receive information about our Egg Donation Program, Contact Us
or complete the Egg Donor Wish List to begin the egg donation
process.
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