This is a common topic that is asked by egg donors either during the application process, or worse, in the middle of doing a donation and Intended Parents have already invested thousands of dollars to run medical screening testing on them when they become scared off by the list of things mentioned by the IVF clinic. The IVF clinic is required to go over medical risks in order so that every patient signs the consent form acknowledging that this has been reviewed. All items must be covered and they must also mention every theorized item in the extremely rare case it could happen so they are legally covered that it was disclosed.

Consider this... when you go into a body art shop to get a piercing, you expect it to be a simple procedure, yet the shop won't perform the piercing on you until you sign their consent form. The last time I was in one of these shops for my sister's belly-button piercing, she signed a consent acknowledging the following risks: infection, infectious disease (such as HIV, even though they follow the right procedures to avoid this ever from happening), amputation, and even death! I guess if you allow an infection to progress untreated, it could eventually lead to amputation and death, right? You would never die directly from a piercing unless they pierced your heart!

The risk of death during an IVF cycle is the same - if you have any minor side effects happen afterward but you don't take the responsibility to get it checked or treated, the final result could end in death. So the IVF clinic cannot ever promise you that there is zero chance of it happening. But there is no conceivable way I can think of where an IVF cycle could cause you to die from it directly - this isn't heart surgery either. Actually, in the medical field, this procedure is considered relatively low-risk. So how low-risk is it?

One of the biggest concerns that doctors could only theorize back when I was an egg donor in 2008 was the risk of cancer, and because IVF had been around only 30 years then, there were no long-term studies available yet. I had to accept the risk of theorized cancer back then. Fortunately, for anyone reading this now, studies have finally come out disproving that fertility drugs can cause cancer. Hooray!

Szalavitz, Maia."Putting to Rest Fears that IVF May Be Linked to Cancer." time.com. 08 Dec 2010.

Iacurci, Jenna. "Do fertility drugs cause cancer? Researchers say no." Parent Herald web, 03 Apr 2014.

The most common risks of egg donation is pregnancy, infection, and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), which I explained in this blog post. I've heard the risk of OHSS quoted by different clinics anywhere from 5% up to 15%, it really depends more on the clinic itself. If you haven't read about OHSS, make sure you do. It's very manageable and can be prevented from reaching a severe case if you understand what to look for.

As for the rest of the more severe but rare issues, I found another study done in Australia published in the Oxford Journal regarding statistics of complications from IVF. Keep in mind, this study was done over 15 years ago, and IVF has advanced further since then with more advanced methods, so these stats may be even lower today. Below are some of the points:

• Death has never occurred as a side effect in any of the 29,700 IVF studied cases. Out of all these cases, 2 deaths occurred afterward - to women within 3 months after giving birth to their IVF children because of pregnancy/labor complications.


• In the case of OHSS, it's normally only mild to moderate symptoms that are experienced, which do not require hospitalization. Out of 10,125 IVF cycles, OHSS needing hospital care occurred in 0.7% of cycles.


• Complications of follicle puncture involving bleeding occurred in 0.5% of cycles.


• Post-operative infections requiring antibiotics or surgical management occurred in 0.3% of cycles.


• Similar findings came from a retrospective analysis of 2,495 IVF cycles at a single Dutch clinic (Roest et al., 1996). Hospital admission was required in 0.7% of cycles due to severe OHSS; adnexal torsion occurred in two patients, and both required ovariectomy; and post-operative infection requiring hospital admission occurred in 0.3% of cycles.


• Neither of these studies reported fatal complications of IVF treatment.

Venn, Alison, et al. "Mortality in a cohort of IVF patients."Oxford Journals: Hum. Reprod. (2001) 16 (12): 2691-2696. European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, 02 Feb 2001. Web.

So there you have it. No responsible IVF doctor or agency can promise you a zero chance of the risks happening, but there is certainly a less than 1% chance that it ever could. So what happens if in the very rare case it does happen to you?

Most donor agency requires the Intended Parents to purchase a Donor Medical Insurance policy, which will cover any medical costs related to the egg donation within 3 months of placement of the policy, up to the amount of $250,000. If you suspect you are experiencing side effects, it's important to call the IVF nurses immediately to see if they can bring you back in for a follow up check or to treat the symptoms. If you traveled for the donation and already returned home, or it's after hours and the IVF clinic is no longer open, call the phone number on the insurance card given to you by your Case Manager to ask which hospital nearest you is in-network and go there for emergency care. Print out the card to take with you to submit as your only insurance - do NOT ever use your own insurance or this IVF insurance cannot process your claim. It's better to have the entire bill sent to you and then submit to the IVF insurance filed as a claim. We do help each donor with the claims process - actually it's required, so be sure to stay in constant communication with us if you suspect anything.