How to participate as a recipient

In order to decide if you are a candidate for the program, you will be asked to forward all your medical records, laboratory tests, copies of prior operative procedures, radiology X-rays such as the hysterosalpingogram and any pertinent information on the evaluation of the husband prior to being seen by Specialists in Reproductive Medicine & Surgery, P.A. (SRMS). Both the patient and partner will be encouraged to attend the first interview. Depending upon the age of the recipient, additional testing including an EKG, treadmill, psychological evaluation, mammogram, vaginal ultrasound and screening blood tests may be requested. Medical conditions such as diabetes and other significant medical problems may exclude an individual from becoming an egg recipient.

Donor Recipient Q&A

Am I at a greater risk during my pregnancy if I am older than most pregnant women?

If you are in good general health, the risks for carrying a pregnancy later in life are minimized. Older pregnant women do seem to have an increase in the incidence of the following:

C-Section (Surgical Delivery)
Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)
Gestational Diabetes (High blood sugar during pregnancy)
Placental Infarcts (damage) leading to smaller gestations and placental abruption
Placental previa where the placenta blocks the exit of the fetus requiring a C-Section

While exceedingly rare, the mortality rate for pregnant women over the age of 40 reaches 80 per 100,000 women compared to 20 per 100,000 women at 30 years of age.

The risks of genetic abnormalities, such as Down’s syndrome, are proportional to the age of the egg donor and not your age. The age of your uterus does not seem to play any significant role in your ability to sustain and carry a pregnancy. This general area of research continues to develop and the potential egg recipient needs to understand that she may be considered high risk simply because of her age.

What has to be done in preparation for the actual embryo transfer?
SRMS will suggest a specific protocol that is tailored to your current medical state. In general, if you are still ovulating, a medication will be given to inhibit the ovulation process. Supplemental estrogen and progesterone will then be administered most commonly through injections such that the hormonal cycle is carefully mimicked and controlled. This careful control of the cycle is necessary so that the donor and recipient cycles are matched precisely and that the freshly fertilized eggs may be implanted in the recipient’s uterus.

What are the potential liabilities?
The recipient couple will be responsible for any reasonable hospital/physician charges incurred by the donor for complications associated with the egg donation process. The most common complication of the process involves overstimulation of the ovaries called Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). OHSS can result in hospitalization and prolonged treatment.
The complications of the egg retrieval process itself are less than 1%. Rarely, a surgical complication such as infection or bleeding could require hospitalization and an emergency laparoscopy on the egg donor. Every attempt would be made to have the process covered on the egg donor’s insurance policy, but any unpaid balance will be the responsibility of the recipient couple. Egg donor insurance may be available, so please ask the SRMS staff about this option.

The staff at SRMS will do everything possible to prevent all complications from occurring to any patient, especially egg donors. The cycle will be canceled if we feel the risks to the donor are too great.

Find an egg donor
Unlike many programs, SRMS has an extraordinary abundance of egg donors waiting for recipients. Our egg donation program has been active since 1994. Since Dr. Sweet lectures to the general public, the local university and the community college, he has an opportunity to request that young healthy women consider being egg donors. Many volunteer.

We currently have dozens of wonderful women willing to donate their eggs to needy couples. Please review our egg donor database for further information on each qualified donor. There are two ways to search the database, by photo and by narrowing the list through physical characteristics.

For more information please visit our Download Section.