Lack of full-time physician at private fertilization clinic draws ire of prospective parents

Frustrated by fertility clinic’s out-of-town physician Alesia Fieldberg speaks with a woman who says she wasted years as a patient of Effortless IVF as a result of the physician’s schedule.

Several Calgary families are questioning the time they committed, the money they spent and the care they received at a northeast in vitro fertilization clinic.

“In hindsight, I feel like we wasted two years,” said Tanya Driscoll, who had been a patient of the Effortless IVF clinic.

Driscoll says that after registering with the clinic, she and her husband waited a year before their fertility treatment began.  “I would call every month to try and schedule this frozen embryo treatment and, every month, (the physician) wasn’t available, wasn’t travelling to Calgary that month or only available for two days that didn’t match with my schedule.”

The clinic advertises its services for roughly half the price of conventional in vitro fertilization and utilizes a method where sperm and eggs are placed inside a capsule promoting conception and embryo development and the capsule is inserted into the patient.

Precise timing is required with in vitro fertilization and the couple became concerned with the lack of access to the physician who does not reside in Calgary. “Infertility is typically a time sensitive thing," said Driscoll. "It’s not something where you have the liberty to wait months and years for a clinic to get their act together.”

CTV Calgary has been in contact with several other women who had been Effortless IVF patients and shared Driscoll’s concerns.

In a statement to CTV issued Tuesday, Effortless IVF representatives said patients are made aware of its scheduling ahead of registering and a full-time Reproductive Endocrinologist in Infertility (REI) will be joining the clinic once immigration documents are secured, a process that began in January 2018.

“Our operating model and cost model are based on the principal of batched appointments. We structure our offering to when we have REI’s (Reproductive Endocrinologist in Infertility) available. In the very few instances where we have not been able to provide services within a reasonable timeline to our patients, we have refunded these patients as per their request and within the frame of reference of their specific program plan.  We design individualized programs for our patients based upon when we have doctor availability. Though it can be slightly less convenient for the patient, having our specialists fully booked when they are here, is one of the reasons we can offer a form of IVF for about 50% the cost of conventional treatment.  There are wait times (at) any clinic, the same is true for us. We have a full time Medical Director, we have not, nor advertised that we have had a full time Calgary based REI. We have been actively advertising for one since before we opened, which we had to show the LMIA once the new REI applied.  We look forward to Dr. Tannus who will be our full time REI joining us very soon.” 

“Effortless IVF Calgary has been fortunate to work with some of the most respected REI’s in Canada. We are proud to be involved in what can be a very joyful time in the lives of our patients. This can also be a very stressful time for them and their family, we do understand and work toward them having a positive outcome. Patient outcomes and patient safety are of paramount importance to us and the timing of our REI’s visit to Calgary is not random.  Our patients fertility cycles are specifically lined up with when our REI’s are available. This typically is in one week blocks.  This is always discussed and patients are informed before treatment commences. We anticipate to make an announcement very soon on our full time REI. Dr. Tannus has been accepted by the college, we are waiting on a different government agency to provide the immigration document under LMIA.”

The College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) says there is no fixed timeline for the clinic to address the concerns regarding physician access but the college will review the status of the clinic if it’s not resolved in a reasonable amount of time.

“We want to get this resolved on a scale of weeks or a few months from now,” said Steve Buick, public policy advisor with CPSA. It’s not reasonable for us to accredit a clinic that leaves patients expecting services the college has expected them to provide and not receive them for months on end.”

“Our bottom line is that patients receive safe and effective care but effective means patients have to actually get it.”

The college says there are currently no safety concerns regarding the clinic.

With files from CTV’s Alesia Fieldberg