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Topic
NWcontent posted
about 2 years ago
Free/ subsidised sperm banking
According to an ABC radio report in 2005, one third of men who have chemotherapy are left sterile afterwards. However, storing your sperm at a sperm bank is very expensive. "The first year of storage costs $264 and then subsequent years are $198". (That was the cost five years ago, remember).
This means that if you're a teenage male cancer patient, and you want to bank your sperm before treatment and store it for 10 years until you are ready to have children, it will cost you over $5000 just to have the option of having kids one day!
Do you think sperm banking should be covered by medicare? How long should they subsidise it for after treatment?
2 Comments in this Topic
ihatesoup said
about 2 years ago
Wow! $5000 for something most of us take for granted! I definitely think there needs to be some kind of financial support for young people who have gone through treatment and are facing issues of fertility. Its an idea that often isn't given enough attention.
I have heard about young people not being made aware of their options before treatment or the impact that treatment can have on fertility. Only after treatment do they discover that having children might now be an issue for them. So I think there also needs to be more emphasis in hospitals and cancer treatment centres on this issue. At the very least young people need to be informed about their options!
Has anyone experienced this as a young person who has received treatment for cancer?
Jaz said
about 2 years ago
This is an issue that most people would never even think about. I think medicare should definitely subsidise sperm banking for people having treatment. Does anyone know if medicare currently subsidises fertility treatment for women who have had treatment?
I have also heard of young men not being told of their options before treatment. I have heard too of young men being given conflicting advice - I think it can be a really confusing issue for someone about to start treatment to get their head around, especially if they had never previously given any thought to the idea of having children one day. I think the family must play a huge role in this decision.
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