A woman in her early forties, who claims six years of unnecessary tests and waiting for IVF on the NHS has meant that she is now too old to use her own eggs, is suing the trust she claims is responsible. 

As reported last week in the Daily Mail, Greta Mason decided to sue Worthing and Southlands Primary Care Trust after she was placed on a waiting list for fours years and once gaining an appointment she was not treated for another two. By this time, Greta's eggs were too old to be used and she decided to use a egg donor instead. 

Greta told the Daily Mail that although she would love and care for her baby when it arrives, she was 'absolutely devastated that is not genetically mine.' She and her husband Chris eventually traveled to Spain to undergo private fertility treatment using donated eggs. The procedure cost £15,000 and the couple say they had to re-mortgaged their home to pay for the treatment. 

'I had always dreamed of having my own flesh and blood child who will inherit my genes so it was an absolutely shattering blow,' she told the newspaper. 'I always wanted a baby with my husband but the truth is that this baby is genetically another woman's, and at times during my pregnancy, because the baby is not related to me, I have simply felt like an incubator.'

Greta claims that as she neared the menopause her hormone levels should have been checked more regularly by doctors so that IVF could be performed using her own eggs. 'If this had been done, the doctors would have had an early warning that my eggs were getting too old to be used for IVF and they could have brought us in for treatment earlier,' she said.

Reproduced from BioNews with permission, a web- and email-based source of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and human genetics, published by Progress Educational Trust.