32
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Learning from Cross-Border Reproduction

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Drawing upon the preliminary findings of an Australian empirical project on cross-border reproduction (CBR), this article argues that regulators and policymakers could learn from the experiences of those who travel overseas in order to access fertility treatment and surrogacy. It makes four principal observations. First, the distinction between so-called ‘altruistic’ and ‘commercial’ gamete donation and surrogacy is increasingly unsustainable and is not experienced as meaningful by many participants in CBR. Secondly, the status of the law in CBR is profoundly equivocal; for participants it is often there and not there at the same time. Thirdly, self-sourced information, from the internet and more specifically social media such as Facebook, is now the principal source of information and peer support for reproductive travellers. Fourthly, and relatedly, domestic reproductive services providers are often sidestepped. If one of the goals of regulation is to minimise the risk of harm to participants, it is not clear that it is currently achieving this aim, and this article argues that any reforms will only work if they are more responsive to the reality of CBR.

          Related collections

          Most cited references2

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          The 'patient's physician one-step removed': the evolving roles of medical tourism facilitators.

          Medical tourism involves patients travelling internationally to receive medical services. This practice raises a range of ethical issues, including potential harms to the patient's home and destination country and risks to the patient's own health. Medical tourists often engage the services of a facilitator who may book travel and accommodation and link the patient with a hospital abroad. Facilitators have the potential to exacerbate or mitigate the ethical concerns associated with medical tourism, but their roles are poorly understood. 12 facilitators were interviewed from 10 Canadian medical tourism companies. Three themes were identified: facilitators' roles towards the patient, health system and medical tourism industry. Facilitators' roles towards the patient were typically described in terms of advocacy and the provision of information, but limited by facilitators' legal liability. Facilitators felt they played a positive role in the lives of their patients and the Canadian health system and served as catalysts for reform, although they noted an adversarial relationship with some Canadian physicians. Many facilitators described personally visiting medical tourism sites and forming personal relationships with surgeons abroad, but noted the need for greater regulation of their industry. Facilitators play a substantial and evolving role in the practice of medical tourism and may be entering a period of professionalisation. Because of the key role of facilitators in determining the effects of medical tourism on patients and public health, this paper recommends a planned conversation between medical tourism stakeholders to define and shape facilitators' roles.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Regulation of assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy in Australia

              Bookmark

              Author and article information

              Journal
              Med Law Rev
              Med Law Rev
              medlaw
              Medical Law Review
              Oxford University Press
              0967-0742
              1464-3790
              February 2017
              10 January 2017
              10 January 2017
              : 25
              : 1
              : 23-46
              Affiliations
              [1 ]Law Department, London School of Economics, London, UK
              [2 ]Faculty of Law, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
              Author notes
              Article
              fww045
              10.1093/medlaw/fww045
              5387889
              28073821
              9529168b-b36d-4ad3-adc9-f4dc44b35ed0
              © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

              This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com

              History
              Page count
              Pages: 24
              Funding
              Funded by: Australian Research Council
              Award ID: 15010157
              Categories
              Articles

              Law
              cross-border reproductive care,surrogacy,assisted reproduction,egg donation,payments,legal parentage

              Comments

              Comment on this article