Everyone is welcome! This is an "in-person-seminar", but it will be possible to participate via zoom. Please contact p.a.hermansen@ifikk.uio.no to receive the zoom-link.
Abstract:
In Vitro Fertilization is a medical procedure in which an egg is fertilized outside the womb. As with any clinical treatment, IVF requires a cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). A CEA is an evaluation that is concerned with determining the efficiency of any particular treatment, the aim being to ensure that our limited resources can provide the most amount of benefits. However, when it comes to conducting a CEA of IVF, we are faced with metaphysical questions that do not arise in most other medical procedures. In this presentation I will address two of these questions. Firstly, what is the desired outcome of IVF? We may intuitively understand that our goal is to create a healthy child. This could mean that the goal is to either cure biological infertility or cure unwanted childlessness. For the prospective parent this distinction is perhaps not of significance, but these different goals would lead to vastly different outcomes in a CEA.
Secondly, we must determine who IVF is for - who is the benefactor of an IVF procedure? I will outline four different potential benefactors here, demonstrating the vast different outcomes this would result in when conducting a CEA. Lastly, I will evaluate whether these problems are solely due to IVF being a fertility treatment aimed at creating new lives, or if these issues outlined above indicate larger problems with CEAs in general.