CaRi-heart technology
Revolutionary new technology to assess the risk of a serious heart condition or heart attack – many years before anything happens.
Embryo donation
DONATING EMBRYOS TO HELP CREATE A NEW FAMILY
Embryo donation is possible when surplus frozen embryos remain after a couple's IVF cycle. Permission is given by the couple for the embryo's to be released for research or someone else's IVF treatment.
What is Embryo donation?
If you have had successful treatment with us (or any other UK fertility clinic*) and have completed your family, you may need to decide what to do with any extra embryos you have in storage. One option is to donate the embryos for the purpose of research. This enables scientists and embryologists to increase their knowledge about disease and aid in developing new treatments. There are no eligibility criteria to donate the embryos for research purposes.
Alternatively, you may like to donate your embryos in order to help another person to create a family. We can guide you through the process to help you to decide whether this is a suitable option for you and provide you with the information you need and the relevant consent forms.
What does donating my embryos involve?
If you decide to donate your embryos to help create another family, the egg donor must have ideally been between the age of 18 and 35 at the time the embryos were created. You and your partner will be asked to come to the clinic to have an assessment of your personal and family history which will include some blood testing. This is to reduce the risk of passing on medical conditions to children born from donation.
What about the emotional impact of donating my embryos?
You will need to attend a counselling session so you understand the implications around embryo donation, discuss ethical and legal issues and to make sure you are entirely happy with your decision.
How much will it cost?
There is no cost to yourselves to donate the embryos and we can provide you with up to £35 (£70 per couple) compensation for each visit you have to make to the clinic for example to cover costs of travel for assessment and screening tests.
FAQs about donating embryos
The donation will be anonymous at the time of treatment however any child conceived with the help of a donor will be able to identify their donor after they reach the age of 18. It is possible the child may not want these details nor want to contact them.
You will not have any legal rights or responsibilities over any children born from embryo donation and you can decide if you would want to have any kind of relationship with them if they contact you after the age of 18.
You can leave the child a personal description and good-will message if you choose to and we can provide information about how to organise this.
You can leave the child a personal description and good-will message if you choose to and we can provide information about how to organise this.
If you decide to donate your embryos you are entitled to find out whether the donation was successful, how many children were born from the treatment, their genders and their year of birth.
You can withdraw your decision to donate your embryos up until the point the embryo is transferred to another woman even if you have given written consent.
*If you have embryos stored at another UK clinic and would like to donate your embryos to help create another family, you can contact us to help you to transfer your embryos to the Lister Fertility Clinic for this purpose.
Our Embryo donation locations
Lister Fertility Clinic
Chelsea Bridge Road SW1W 8RH London
Lister Fertility Clinic at The Portland Hospital
215 Great Portland Street W1W 5PN London
Patient stories
Yvette's story: From back pain to hip replacement surgery
Yvette (54) a journalist from Kent, started experiencing pain in her hip seven years ago in 2015. An ex-national gymnast who had been incredibly active and flexible her whole life, Yvette felt concerned about the growing discomfort impacting her quality of life, and so sought help from her GP.
A new hip and straight back into the spin of things
David’s gym video shows him repeatedly pushing up to 100kg on a single leg press – not particularly unusual for this keen cyclist, former competitive squash player and all-round fitness enthusiast. What is unusual is that 52-year-old David had hip surgery just 12 weeks earlier.
Michael's MAKO hip surgery to treat his arthritis
73 year-old Michael, an avid walker and charity worker, was diagnosed with arthritis in January 2021. After facing long waiting times and increasing pain that was becoming more frequent, he started to look elsewhere for treatment.
This content is intended for general information only and does not replace the need for personal advice from a qualified health professional.