Dr Potter on 60 Minutes Australia - watch this episode

Just watched IVF PGD on 60 Minutes in Australia with Dr Potter and a family who went through the procedure after 7 boys.

Just wanted to give that mother and Dr Potter a BIG ((HUG)).  Good on them and darn you Australian Government for not giving us any choice but to travel overseas, only wish i could afford it, id do it in an instant after having 3 sons of my own and going through Gender Depression.

I Pray and Wish that Australia would let a "Dr Potter" do that proecudure in our country - so BACKWARDS OUR AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT IS !!!   Yes Dr Potter you are right, we are the "Wild West" and far, far, far behind the USA.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8443410

Aussies and anyone esle who is willing help us out and send your email of dissappointment to the Australian Government of National Health and Medical Research Council nhmrc@nhmrc.gov.au   and we may have a voice.

LOVED IT!!  Thanks for including the link.

GZ

It has been a very controversal issue since the show aired. .

I am so happy that she was able to fullfil her dreams of having a daughter - even if she did have to travel overseas to do so.....

Even as someone who has both genders I totally agree with gender selection and believe it should be made available for couples in Australia. Sure I believe it should not be made available to just anyone... there definately should be a criteria that should be met ( like you must have 3 or more of same sex children) I think its outrageous that we are a western country but cannot have the same opportunities as the USA. I found that lady they interviewed- the one responsible for the decision to not have it ( I forgot her name) sooo old fashioned.... and her reasons behind not legalising it were ridiculous! Is she that nieve to think that people wont travel to the States to get it done anyway? Dr Potter said he sees 15 couples from australia every month!!!!

I thought it was a nice story and I thought that woman was very brave to go on the show and talk about her story. I thought she would have alot of support! I mean 7 boys.... who she clearly loves dearly but who 's to blame her for wanting a daughter? It was her dream and good on her for fulfilling it, even if it meant travelling to the otherside of the world.

she has my support!

I will make sure I send that email  to the Australian Government of National Health and Medical Research Council

there is also another thread going about this story:

http://www.in-gender.com/cs/forums/t/245006.aspx

I usually like 60 minutes and the quality of their investigative reporting, but this piece was shallow sensationalistic fluff. A lady with 7 sons travels to the United States to do IVF  for a girl and gets pregnant on her first attempt. She has exactly one frozen embryo left which also happens to be a girl, and gets pregnant again on the first attempt.  All very quick. Very neat. And very tidy. 

There was nothing mentioned about women who spend thousands of dollars on mutiple failed attempts at hi-tech and are still left empty handed.  Certainly no mention of messy loose ends with anguished couples deciding on what to do with several frozen embryos of the unwanted sex still sitting in the nitrogen vault. Maybe neat & tidy is how 60 minutes wanted it and that's why they chose her.

The entire clip reminded me of one of those silly Slimfast commercials where the woman loses 250 pounds drinking nothing but chocolate laced protein shakes.  A simple: RESULTS NOT TYPICAL warning should have been flashing across the screen the whole time.

I'm also shocked that Dr Potter failed to mention that the Microsort procedure that produced these atypical results for his patient can no longer be legally offered. It would be similar to having a doctor go on TV showing off a wonderful new laser face-lift treatment and then when patients call the clinic they are told they have to use the old scalpel surgery instead.  I would hope that no impressionable ladies from Australia travel thousands of miles overseas for a service which no longer exists.   

I do wish Cloverbear all of the best in her upcoming pregnancy - but I do also wish 60 minutes had dug a little further beneath the surface when doing a piece on hi-tech gender selection.  It is not quick. It is not neat. It is not easy. For most of us at least

Funny you mention Microsort, I COULD really use them as I start cycle #7.....

Did you watch 8 Boy and Wanting a Girl -Documentary? This is  the description :'8 boys and wanting a girl' follows the stories of four women: Michelle, pregnant with her fifth child and praying for it to be a girl; Wendy, who has resigned herself to eight boys; Nicola who, after four boys, managed to give birth to twin girls via PGD abroad, and Alison in the US who is undergoing her third round of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to bring a daughter into a home of four sons. 

 I believe Alison is MommyTwingle, it showed everything from her transfer to her Negative HPT, which I could totally relate to..

Yes I did watch that documentary. I thought it was a lot more honest about what gender selection is all about.

There were so many negative comments on the 60 minutes website about the Cloverbear piece. I think its because 60 minutes framed the whole story like they were going on a shopping trip and coming home with "the goods" .

Maybe if they had followed a few different couples around and got different perspectives like the 8 boys documentary, gender selection would be perceived more like the struggle it really is.

After this episode, HRC said they have 40+ new patients from Australia this month...

choulu:

After this episode, HRC said they have 40+ new patients from Australia this month...

Vickyaust,  please please be very very careful which doctor you  choose.  Do not believe everything you see on TV or read on the internet -especially so-called "glowing" reveiws.

The service you saw on 60 minutes (Microsort) is what enabled that lady to get girl embryos....and Microsort is not even being offered anymore by Dr Potter or HRC. Microsort is no longer performed anywhere in the USA.

Look at my signature.  I have just come off a devestating IVF/PGD cycle only. We had no Microsort. We had to use  my husband's regular unsorted sperm.  We also had NO TRANSFER as not a single healthy girl embryo out of 10 embryos biopsied.   According to our RE this is quite common to have nothing in approx. 25% of IVF/PGD cycles.   So you could very possibly spend thousands to travel to the USA from Australia and end up with zero girls but instead some healthy frozen boys that you could have made for free at home.

Jackie,

 I think you are just trying to discourage Vickyaust.

 We all know that doing IVF/PGD for Gender selection is like a gambling,No Dr can gurantee the results for you. Dr are not god they are just trying to help you fulfill ur dream or fix a medical condition. Out of your 10 embys did you not have any girls at all were all 10 embys male.

If you had any female embys & they were abnormal, how can you blame that on a Dr. Its probabily because of the egg or the sperm.

In this forum , i have read/seen so many IVF/PGD success stories. Not every one used MS.

Vickyaust, Dont get discouraged, I know with this procedure not every one get success. But you can never predict future right, So do ur own research & understand all the pros & cons of the procedure & talk to your DH & make the decision. After 5 yrs if you turn back & see you should not repent that you did not even try an attempt.

From whati have read here & in the other forum, Compared to Dr Potter, Dr lin had good reputation & a good money back guarentee program.

Babyson,

I was not trying to discourage Vickiaust but rather give her both sides of the story and not just what she sees on a show on TV.

I do not expect the dr to be god, but they act like they are god when they are trying to sign you up to their clinic programs. They will promise you very high pregnancy rates and chances of success. They do not talk about no transfers and wasted money until after something fails miserably with the cycle...then they tell you the real stats for their patients and clinic. The shared risk programs are not truly shared risk at all. The clinic purposely overcharges on all the fees so that if you do have no success after 3 cycles, then you get a small portion of the money back - the clinic does not lose a single penny!  None of the PGD fees or medications are refundable in "shared risk" either which makes up over 50% of the cost!

As for my embryos they may as well have all been boys...I had 8 out of 10 be boys even though the RE claimed prior to  my ER that he's never seen such a result and how highly unusual it would be. After the no transfer, he suddenly remembered 3 more patients this happened to him in the last year.  1 in 4 patients will have nothing to put back 

with all due respect, I think I am better qualified to talk about the plus & minus of hi-tech gender selection coming off of 5 failed hi-tech cycles and $30,000 spent with no baby and you have not even done a single cycle. Please walk a mile in my shoes before talking about how simple hi-tech is.

If vickyaust would like to do IVF/PGD she should at least go in with her eyes wide open.

I can understand your pain & i am NOT saying HT is simple or easy. I have seen my sister failed 3 times doing IVF/PGD for gender selection. (i know what she has gone through & going through)

We all know how marketing works in this world. No matter what a person sells he/she tries to convience you & make sure u buy that product.

 That is the reason i told, before choosing ur Dr do ur homework/research.Dont go on what ur dr's make u understand on the day of your consult & i think all the Dr's try to give there best for there patients.

GL & Hope you get your girl very soon.