SPERM DONATION

Selecting donor sperm

Considering treatment using donor sperm

A significant problem facing many patients is the shortage of donor sperm available, many of our patients have to buy in samples from abroad. Create Health is in the process of forming our own donor sperm bank. By having our own donor bank we can reduce the costs of import enabling more patients the chance to have a child. We will provide you with details of overseas sperm banks to enable you to select your donor.

Legal considerations and responsibility

It has been shown it is important for some donor-conceived people to find out more about their genetic origins, therefore the Government removed anonymity for donors in April 2005. This means that anyone conceived using donated sperm will be allowed to ask the HFEA for identifying information about the donor when they reach the age of 18, or 16 if they are planning to marry. They will be able to find out who you are and possibly want to get in touch. For this reason you must discuss this with your partner and family.

It is important to remember that after completion of the appropriate consent forms, you will be regarded as the legal parents or any child born as a result of the treatment. The donor will not be financially or emotionally liable for the upbringing of any child created using the donor’s sperm. 

You can discuss the above with us or with our counsellor.

Donor assessment process

All donors are asked a series of questions to make sure that they are suitable and aware of all the implications involved in becoming a donor.

We can accept donors between the ages of 18 and 45 years, they should be fit and healthy, and they and their families should be free from any serious medical condition or genetic disease. We cannot accept donors from high-risk groups, such as; Drug users, Haemophiliacs (treated with blood products), Residents from high-risk areas such as Central Africa & Men who, are or ever have been, sexually involved with members (male or female) of these groups.

In addition, there are strict criteria regarding the quality of sperm before donors are regarded as suitable to donate.

Treatment process

Following your initial consultation, initial ultrasound scan and treatment consultation, you will be required to have the following blood tests:

Hepatitis B Surface Antigen, Hepatitis B Core Antibody, Hepatitis C, HIV, Syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, CMV*

* the CMV blood test is important for matching with a donor. If you are CMV positive, your donor can be either CMV positive or CMV negative. However, if you are CMV negative, then your donor must also be CMV negative.

You will need to receive an implications counselling session through our Counsellor, Mollie Graneek. Please call 07710631702 to book a session. You will not be able to proceed to treatment without receiving implications counselling. Please note, there is an additional charge for the Counselling session.

The next stage is to attend Create Health for a treatment consultation with our nursing team. The treatment protocol will be explained, you will be shown how to administer your medication, and any questions you have will be answered.
You may be required to have additional procedures such as tubal patency tests (HyCoSy) prior to commencing treatment. 

Before treatment can commence, we must have the donor sperm in our cryobank. You will not commence treatment unless we have the sperm available.

Using overseas donor banks

We can provide you with information for several overseas donor banks. You will be asked to access their donor catalogues online and make a selection of donors. Once your donor is available, you will be required to make payment to the donor bank. 

The donor bank will make contact with us and will make the arrangements to transport the samples.

• European Sperm Bank – www.europeanspermbank.com
• Xytex – www.xytex.com  
• Cryos International – www.cryosinternation.com/dk

Sperm Donor Information

Becoming a sperm donor

Thank you for showing an interest in becoming a sperm donor. It is a very generous gift to donate sperm in order for some patients to achieve their goal of having a child. There is a lot of information for you to read before you embark on the donation process, please ask any questions as they arise. This is particularly important as your decision to donate can have consequences for you (and your family), your recipients and any children born as a result of your kind gesture to donate.

A significant problem facing many patients is the shortage of donor sperm available, many of our patients have to buy in samples from abroad which can be very costly. By having our own donor bank we can reduce these costs enabling more patients the chance to have a child.

Legal considerations and responsibility

Any child born through a result of your donations will be genetically related to you, however the people who receive your donations will be the legal parents, you will not be financially or emotionally liable for the upbringing of any child created using your sperm. You need to consider this now and think about how you feel about it and how you may feel about this in the future. You can discuss this with us or with our counsellor.

It has been shown it is important for some donor-conceived people to find out more about their genetic origins, therefore the Government removed anonymity for donors in April 2005. This means that anyone conceived using donated sperm will be allowed to ask the HFEA for identifying information about the donor when they reach the age of 18, or 16 if they are planning to marry. They will be able to find out who you are and possibly want to get in touch. For this reason you must discuss this with your partner and family.

Assessment process

During the initial assessment you will be asked a series of questions to make sure that you are suitable and aware of all the implications involved in becoming a donor before we progress.

We can accept donors between the ages of 18 and 45 years, they should be fit and healthy, and they and their families should be free from any serious medical condition or genetic disease. We cannot accept donors from high-risk groups, such as; Drug users, Haemophiliacs (treated with blood products), Residents from high-risk areas such as Central Africa & Men who, are or ever have been, sexually involved with members (male or female) of these groups.

Following the initial assessment and time for you to digest all the information if you want to become a donor we will arrange an appointment time for you to for a test semen analysis (includes a test freeze/thaw). You will need to produce a semen sample at the unit. This allows us to test how your sperm react to being frozen. For the best results you should abstain from having sex or masturbating for at least 2 days but no more than 5 days prior to your appointment.

Shortly after your appointment, we will contact you to let you know whether or not you may be suitable to be a donor on the basis of your semen test freeze/thaw.

The survival rate of sperm (approx 50%) during the freeze/thaw procedure means not many men who volunteer as sperm donors are recruited. Please be aware that rejection as a sperm donor does not mean that you are unable to have children (you must still use contraception). Many potential sperm donors are rejected even though they already have children themselves. If your semen analysis result indicates to us that there may be a major problem we will inform you of this, unless you indicate otherwise.

Donation process

If your initial test results are suitable we will ask you to complete the legal consent forms required to be a donor and ask you to attend a second appointment with one of our clinical team, please bring your passport or Photo driving licence to this meeting (for ID purposes). The appointment will be made once all the required forms are returned to the clinic including a letter from your G.P.

The clinician will check through your forms and discuss any queries you may have. A quick physical examination will take place.

Blood & urine samples will be taken as a certain number of tests must be carried out to clear you of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and make sure that you do not carry any genetic abnormality. We will contact you with the results, following which we will then ask you to attend a series of appointments for you to provide samples for storage.

The number of visits will vary but the average is 10 (over a 2-3 month period). We will try and provide a mutually convenient time for you to attend the unit. As the donation process involves a series of visits please do not embark on this process if you will be unable to attend the appointments (i.e. if you are planning on leaving the area).

After completing your donations you will need to attend the clinic for the final physical examination and repeat blood/urine screen. This enables us to release the sperm for treatment.

Implications and support

We strongly recommend counselling as the issues involved are highly complex and far reaching. Counselling is an opportunity to consider whether you want to proceed and to ask questions and clarify for yourself what donation will actually mean for you.

There are strict guidelines are laid down allowing the donor to claim reasonable expenses; these will be explained to you at the start of the assessment process.

We would be very grateful if you could encourage other men to donate. We need as many donors as possible to allow us to continue to treat couples desperate to start families of their own. As we have mentioned before it is hard to recruit donors, it takes approximately 10-15 interested men to find 1 suitable donor.

We thank you for your interest in becoming a sperm donor.

Related links

Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/egg-and-sperm-donors.html

National Gamete Donation Trust: http://www.ngdt.co.uk