Advice for Egg Donors

One solution for some infertile couples is to use an egg donated by a third party. Some organizations post ads offering money to women willing to undergo the procedure. Fertility specialist Dr. David Walmer of Duke University Medical Center says a lot of women who answer these egg-donor ads go into the process with the best of intentions.

"From an altruistic sense, what a wonderful gift this would be, to donate eggs that normally die in your ovaries and help couples who can't have children have children."

Walmer says the donor egg program at Duke requires the donor to undergo rigorous physical and psychological testing, interviews and questionnaires. He says he and his colleagues have found some donors have not considered how they might feel in a few years, wondering if their egg resulted in a birth, and if so, what the child might be like. Walmer says it takes a special person to be able to accept the anonymity and lack of knowledge concerning the outcome. I'm Tom Britt.

Walmer says rigorous testing and interviews help determine if the donor understands what she is getting into psychologically. Cut 2...recipients...:13...(Preview this in a WAV file in 16-bit mono.)

"When we screen people, we're screening them not just to rule out psychological problems, but we're trying to minimize the chance that somebody who goes through the process would regret it later in life. So it's for the donors and the recipients."