I can always tell when I am going to get the attention of the guy during a visit with a couple. Most of the time they sit there with a glazed look in their eyes, but when I say, “Now let’s talk about the risks of the treatment,” they sit up, lean forward, and look at me with laser beam eyes. I have even had them say with great deliberateness, “Doc, Let me make this perfectly clear. I just don’t want anything to happen to her. She is what is most important to me.” What a beautiful thing!
It is also a good thing for me that I can say without equivocation that I feel exactly the same way. Our patient’s safety has always been a priority at ARMS. From the beginning we have gone beyond the norm to bring to our patients the highest chance of success with the lowest chance of a complication.
So once I have the attention of both partners, I go over the risks of doing an IVF cycle. I tell them what the probability of having a complication is, but don’t usually go into why it is so low.
