How to Choose a Fertility Clinic

Though your biological clock's alarm may be screeching in your ears, it's worth hitting the snooze button once more so you'll have the time to find a good fertility clinic.

It's important to choose the right one because you'll live with the results your entire life. And if the results are technologically induced quintuplets, your biological clock's alarm will seem like a mere whisper compared with the noise five hungry babies can make. Besides, many insurance plans won't cover a full course of infertility treatments, so you could be paying for much of this out of your own pocket.

Let's say you've been getting advice from your gynecologist, who's run a blood test for hormones or had you record your temperature for a couple of months. At the same time, your husband has had his plumbing checked out by a urologist. When it comes time to diagnose where the problem may be and suggest solutions, you may wish there were a single doctor you both could see. That's where the infertility specialist comes in, providing big-picture advice. Women over age 35 or who have a history of three or more miscarriages; men with a poor semen analysis; and couples who have tried for at least two years to get pregnant, should plan on seeing a specialist, recommends Resolve, an infertility support group.

And there's a downside to a fertility clinic: Once you get on the technological merry-go-round for modern baby making, it can be hard to get off. Before you step foot into the fertility clinic, get a book or search the Internet. Find out what kind of invasive tests or procedures might lie in wait for you. And give some thought ahead of time to how far you're willing to go with this process. Advanced reproductive technology can cost many thousands of dollars, can involve strong drugs or hormones, and can be an emotional roller coaster. Knowing your limits will keep you from being talked into some nifty new procedure that you really don't want and can't afford.

When it comes to choosing a clinic, do thorough research ahead of time. One useful resource is a federal database kept by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that contains the success rates of fertility centers around the country. The statistics are updated every few years, so check the date. Keep in mind that some fertility centers that looked great several years ago may have had high staff turnover and declined in quality. But the numbers give you a place to start. Also, ask a lot of questions of every fertility clinic you're considering.

"You shouldn't look at the report and say 'Center A has the highest success rate, I'm going there,'" says Arthur Wisot, MD, an infertility specialist in Redondo Beach, Calif., and author of Conceptions & Misconceptions, a book about choosing infertility care. "Just be sure they have a success rate that's at least above the national average."

We've all heard the scary stories about embryos ending up in the wrong womb or ugly legal disputes over someone's frozen eggs. To be sure you don't become the next reproductive-technology headline, check that the clinic has good quality control and strong ethics.