What does donor sperm treatment involve?

FREE NURSE CONSULTATION

At this appointment the nurse will explain the process and organise the initial tests required. The basic process will be explained including your likely costs.

DOCTOR APPOINTMENT AND FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT(S) AS ADVISED

This appointment will go through your history and results. The doctor will discuss your donor sperm treatment options (IUI or IVF), likely success rates and costs.

Often some more tests will be required, depending on your individual situation.

YOU DECIDE IF DONOR SPERM TREATMENT IS RIGHT FOR YOU

If you are ready to go ahead with donor sperm treatment, then you will need to book a counselling appointment, choose and organise your sperm sample and ensure that you have all the necessary tests done. If you are not sure about your decision the counsellors can help you with this as well.

Counselling appointment(s)

The decision to go ahead with donor sperm treatment can be a difficult one for the person or people involved. There are many, ethical, religious and legal aspects that you might need to consider. We encourage everyone considering using donor sperm to have a counseling session with the clinic counselors to discuss the implications of donor sperm use and any reservations or other questions they may have about the treatment.

CHOOSE AND PURCHASE AN ANONYMOUS DONOR SPERM SAMPLE FROM THE CLINIC OR COMPLETE THE PROCESS OF KNOWN SPERM DONOR SCREENING

You will need to complete a donor sperm matching form, that will ask you to indicate the types of characteristics you are looking for in a sperm donor, such as height, weight, eye colour, skin colour, ethnicity, educational background etc. We will provide you with a list of the currently available sperm donor samples in our clinic bank and the costs of the samples. If you do not see a sperm donor that you like we will also provide you with information on the overseas sperm banks that we work with. If you wish to bring in your own sperm donor sample from overseas, the cost will usually be 2-3 times more than the donors in our clinic bank. When the clinic has received your completed donor matching form and received payment, the sperm sample is ready for your use, whenever you choose to begin treatment.

Please note that each year an annual storage fee for your frozen sperm will need to be paid. This fee covers the liquid nitrogen costs, storage administration and continuous monitoring to help keep your sperm safe (Currently $2500 TTD).

Choosing and screening a known sperm donor

At TIFC a known sperm donor must:

• not be a first or second-degree relative of the woman (when she is using her own eggs)
• be negative for HIV, Hepatitis B & C, Syphilis at donation and six months afterwards (quarantine period)
• have been a non-smoker for at least three months 
• be aged 20-45 years
• not have inheritable e.g. sickle cell disease.
• have a normal semen analysis
• have seen a clinic fertility counselor
• complete a donor questionnaire form

If you have a known sperm donor

STEP 1 – chat with a clinic nurse or doctor about your known sperm donor.

STEP 2 – books an appointment for your potential donor to do a semen analysis

STEP 3 – Your Potential sperm donor attends the clinic with ID, completes a sperm donor questionnaire, does a semen analysis and has the sperm donor blood tests taken.

STEP 4 – the result of the blood tests, semen analysis and sperm donor questionnaire are passed to the clinic doctor for review. Your potential sperm donor is either rejected or accepted as being suitable to donate sperm for you.

STEP 5 – You will be given a call by one of the clinic nurses to let you know the results

STEP 6 – If accepted your sperm donor (and any significant partner of his) has the mandatory counseling session with one of our clinic counselors.

STEP 7 – Your sperm donor books for a sperm freeze on one or more occasion. One or more sperm samples are produced and frozen. The sperm is held in quarantine for SIX months until the donor has repeat blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis B & C and Syphilis blood tests. Once these results are negative AND signed by a clinic doctor, we will release the frozen sperm from quarantine and your donor sperm treatment can begin whenever you are ready.

BEGIN TREATMENT WITHIN 12 MONTHS OF STEP 2 (DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT)

If it has been more than 12 months since you were reviewed and examined by the doctor in clinic, then you will need to book an appointment to be reviewed to ensure that donor sperm treatment is still a safe and effective option for you.

All women wishing to have treatment with donor sperm in the clinic must have had the following tests completed and signed off by our clinic doctor.

Before commencing any fertility treatment with donor sperm, the sample must be ready for use, i.e. anonymous sperm has been purchased and is in our sperm bank or a known-donor has passed the quarantine period.