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UW fertility clinic to close doors
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by Andriy Pazuniak
Friday, March 24, 2006
The only clinic providing in vitro fertilization treatment in Madison is expected to close its doors at the end of June.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital Fertility Clinic, which provides a variety of high-end fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, decided to discontinue its services following an internal examination of its services, according to UW Hospital spokesperson Lisa Brunette.
The clinic lacks a "continuity of care" because — while it provides fertility treatment for many women and families — it does not provide labor and delivery services, Brunette said.
"We do not offer labor and delivery for women who conceive through the program," Brunette said. "So there's a continuity of care, and we don't have that."
However, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin does not buy UW Hospital's justification.
"It's inexplicable UW Hospital would no longer provide these critical services," Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Staff Attorney Chris Taylor said. "It's serving a lot of women and families that are in desperate need. … There's no shortage of patients … and it's a clinic that is making a significant profit."
Taylor said Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin especially disagreed with UW Hospital's explanation because, while there are many hospitals and facilities in Dane County that provide labor and delivery services, only the UW Hospital Fertility Clinic provides in vitro fertilization.
"For many women, it's the only option for them," Taylor said.
Brunette, though, said the clinic's closing would not hurt its current patients, and that UW Hospital would help them transition their care to other providers.
"Anytime you close a clinic, it's disruptive, but we're confident we can hook up with other providers," Brunette said. "We're committed to working with [patients] to find the best match for what they're looking for."
Among other possible options for fertility-treatment patients, according to Brunette, is a clinic that opened in Madison in January.
Brunette said the new clinic, which is not affiliated with UW and is based in Rockford, Ill., provides many of the same treatments as the UW clinic, such as providing medication to produce ovulation.
However, the new clinic does not provide in vitro fertilization, Brunette added, which Taylor said would pose a "significant obstacle" for Dane County women and families in need of the treatment.
"They're going to have to drive significant distances [to receive treatment] and, for many people, they cannot do that," Taylor said, citing how many families do not have the means to travel to facilities in Green Bay and Rockford, Ill., to receive in vitro fertilization treatments, which require visits twice a week for six to eight weeks.
Taylor added the UW Hospital Fertility Clinic's sudden closing even surprised its own employees.
"Even their doctors didn't anticipate this closure," Taylor said.
Brunette said current employees of the UW Hospital Fertility Clinic would be placed in other positions in various UW hospitals and clinics.
There are as of yet no plans in the works for a new clinic to be built in Madison that would provide in vitro fertilization treatments, Brunette added.
Anonymous (March 24, 2006 @ 10:16am):
Talk to women who have gone through that clinic about their experience. I think you'd be surprised at how insensitively they were treated by the two male doctors. The success rate is very good. I have 8 1/2 yr old invitro twins thanks to UW so I had a wonderful out come. And things may have changed. Every woman I have run into who went ther around the same time, cringe as they tell thier story. My hope is that things had changed. UW's decision is very unfortunate. It would have been cost-prohibitive had the service been so far away.
Anonymous (March 24, 2006 @ 3:10pm):
From Dean Showers, 5102 Regent Street, Madison;
Subject: Your story on the closing of the UW Hospital fertility clinic:
You might want to go to the horse's mouth to check facts when you publish stories.
For example, how would an attorney who is not connected to the hospital know whether the clinic makes money? It loses money, I'm told by hospital employees. And how would that attoenwy know whether the doctors involved in this were surprised? They in fact were told about it during a lengthy meeting before the announcement was made. There are other possible errors, including the actual name of the clinic. With today's fast technology and less careful editing to save money and please Wall Street, quality control in fact gathering and clarity in writing is more important than ever. I recommend that, instead of writing to be understood, one should write so that she or he cannot be misunderstood. Stay with it. We need good journalists more than ever. News releases and quoted sources might at times provide objective facts, but they often do not present the truth.
