IVF and the true cost of infertility

Posted: 31/03/2025

The NHS only funds approximately 27% of the total IVF rounds in the UK, meaning that most people pay for it themselves. Eligibility for NHS treatment is defined by personal circumstances and postcode. The average cost for one round of IVF for a heterosexual couple, including fertility MOTs for both partners and medication, is approximately upwards of £7,500.

Sadly, IVF treatment has a fairly low success rate. The statistical chance of having a baby through IVF treatment using your own eggs and your partner's sperm is very dependent on the woman’s age.  For a woman aged under 35, on average one in three IVF rounds is successful. This rises to one in four for women aged 35 to 37 and to one in five for women aged 38 or 39. At 40 or above, the rates are extremely low and can be just one in 20 rounds.

While the success rate for IVF decreases considerably with age it is more successful in women who have had a baby before, although those women are less likely to be offered IVF. In outline terms, women aged under 40 may have three cycles of IVF NHS-funded if they meet certain other requirements but women aged 40 to 42 are only likely to be able to have one round of IVF. IVF is not usually recommended for women over the age of 42 because the chances of a successful pregnancy are thought to be too low.

The affects of infertility

Funding IVF privately is only the financial element of the stress and difficulty that reduced or incomplete fertility presents. Patients who are struggling to conceive report feelings of depression, anxiety, isolation and loss of control. Depression levels in patients with infertility have been compared with patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. Infertility can have far-reaching effects and can affect a woman’s relationship with family and friends, create financial difficulty, affect the relationship between partners and negatively affect the couple's sexual relationship.

Case history of a young woman

We represented a young woman who had a history of pelvic inflammatory disease particularly in her left fallopian tube and who attended hospital with a suspected ectopic pregnancy. She underwent emergency surgery, a laparoscopy, at which the surgeon thought he could see a left-sided ectopic pregnancy and performed a salpingectomy to remove our client’s left fallopian tube.

She collapsed at home a few days later when her right fallopian tube burst (an extremely painful and traumatic tubal abruption) due to the ectopic pregnancy within it. Subsequent review of her radiology revealed a cyst hanging from the left fallopian tube but not an ectopic pregnancy within it. A claim was brought on the basis that in rushing ahead to remove the left tube the surgeon essentially performed a sterilising procedure by incorrectly believing it to contain an ectopic pregnancy when it did not.  

If the surgeon had checked our client’s medical history, he would have known that her left fallopian tube was the only functioning one of the pair. If our client’s condition been investigated appropriately, her right sided ectopic pregnancy could have been dealt with conservatively with methotrexate medication to dissolve the ectopic pregnancy and avoiding the life-threatening tubal abruption suffered by our client.

Our client had been rendered infertile as a woman in her early 20s by the loss of both her fallopian tubes. She was unable to add to her family as she would otherwise have wished. Her condition caused her to suffer moderately severe depression, loss of sleep and loss of libido. She also suffered the breakdown of her relationship with her partner. Future conception would require IVF therapy that our client would have to pay for privately. She would then endure the physical and emotional effects of IVF treatment.

Obtaining expert fertility advice

We obtained advice to understand what our client’s IVF treatment would comprise. The expert advice was that she would need to undergo ovarian stimulation with daily injections of gonadotrophins followed by transvaginal ultrasound guided egg collection, fertilisation in vitro and transfer of one or two embryos to the uterus. Our client wished to have a further two children to complete her family and therefore was more likely to need at least four cycles of IVF with frozen embryo replacement.

It was acknowledged that IVF is a highly stressful procedure for any women to undergo and given our client’s depression and increased desire for the treatment to succeed, it was more likely that she would require psychiatric support and counselling during her fertility treatment. Our client would need to take  time off work to attend medical appointments while she underwent IVF and was likely to incur a loss of earnings as a result. She would also likely need care and assistance.

It was necessary to litigate the claim as the defendant denied liability but we were able to value the claim and settle it through negotiation. 

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