How To Choose a Third Party Donor Provider

Article provided by RESOLVE of Northern California

The doctor you have chosen may not provide donors or you may have very specific requirements in a donor. You can use the services of a third party donor broker or provider. This is a very new service and there are no licenses or degrees required and there are no legal guidelines to determine what a donor broker should or shouldn't be required to do when matching donors and recipients. Here are some common guidelines and questions to ask that may make your search more effective:

1. What is the fee structure for the provider's services? Do you have to pay a fee up front? Is the fee refundable if you change your mind about a donor or don't want to work with any of the donors currently on file. What do all the fees cover? Do you have to pay a separate fee if you don't want to work with any of the donors currently on file and the broker needs to advertise? How long and how much effort will the broker put into finding a donor with specific characteristics? Does the broker charge differently if you pay cash, check or credit card?
2. What is the fee for the donor herself? Can she set her reimbursement herself? If she has provided eggs before has her price remained the same or gone up? If the recipient pays the donor's expenses, does the broker provide an itemized list of expenses?
3. What kind of screening does the donor need to have? What is the psychological screening and who performs it, the broker or a third party? Is there an extra charge for psychological testing (ie. MMPI)? Can you see the results of the testing? Can you have the donor tested by a third party of your own choosing?
4. What kind of medical screening has the donor had? Who will do it if you choose a donor? Is the medical screening included in the cost or is it separate? Has the donor has a 3rd day FSH level blood test done? The FSH level gives an indication of how well a donor will stimulate with fertility drugs.
5. Does the broker facilitate a meeting between you and the donor if you wish to meet? Does the broker provide anonymous, known donors or both?
6. Does the broker work with the donor during the actual cycle and in what capacity? For example, the broker can get the donor's daily estradiol level from the doctor's office and then pass the information on to you.
7. What kinds of records and information are kept on anonymous donors, where and for how long? There may be some reason in the future to contact an anonymous donor.
8. What does the broker do to ensure that a donor hasn't donated too many times before in terms of resultant offspring? If the broker has screened someone out as a donor does the broker provide this information to broker colleagues and/or recipient clients if they ask about this potential donor?
9. What is the legal contract the broker requires the recipient(s) to sign. Do the broker require that the recipient work only with him/her?
10. What is the legal contract the broker requires the donor to sign? Is the donor required to work only with that broker for any specific period of time? Has the donor worked with other brokers?
11. How long has the broker been in business under the current name or a different name? How many donors has the broker matched with recipients in a year? Out of the number of donors matched how many stimulation cycles, how many retrievals, how many pregnancies and live births have resulted (multiple fetuses/births count as one)?
12. Does the broker have recipient references? Is the broker on RESOLVE of Northern California's referral list, for how long? If not, why not? You can call the TAP network to find out more information too.
13. Does the broker keep a medical record of each stimulation the donor has done? Can you see her protocols? If not will the donor release her medical records? Specifically, how many ampules of Pergonal and/or Metrodin did the donor need, did she stimulate easily, how many mature and immature follicles were produced at the time of retrieval, how many eggs were retrieved, how many eggs fertilized and was there a male factor, what were the number and quality of embryos?
14. If successful pregnancies have resulted in what general geographic area do the recipients currently live?
15. Does the donor broker help the uninsured donor find medical coverage?

RESOLVE National Office
RESOLVE of Northern California

Infertility Resources
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Author: L. Howland
First posted: 4/30/95
Updated: 11/30/95
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Copyright 1995 RESOLVE, Inc.