The key role embryo photos play in IVF treatment – what every patient needs to know
Patients often ask me why we routinely provide embryo photographs to all our patients when most other IVF clinics don’t bother. After all, it’s not as if our patients don’t trust us or that we are worried about what our patients think about the quality of medical care we provide them.
We do this for multiple reasons. For one thing, this is the global best medical practice. It’s something that all good IVF clinics all over the world routinely do. This is good for the clinic because it helps them document that they’ve provided high-quality medical care, which is good for their reputation. It’s good for the intelligent patient because they now have a lot more trust and confidence that they’ve received high-quality care because they can see they are taking treatment at a competent clinic. Also, they are happy that the doctor has taken the time and trouble not only to create good-quality embryos but also to educate them that they have done so. This is a mark of respect, and it’s a great way of building trust and confidence in patients.
After all, the outcome of an IVF cycle is uncertain; no one can predict whether an embryo will implant or not. But making good-quality embryos is definitely something a good IVF clinic can do. In fact, it’s the only thing an IVF clinic can do reliably, and documenting this is great for the patient’s confidence, which is why we do it routinely.
This practice is very helpful for our professional reputation because patients will often carry their medical records to other doctors for a second, third, and fourth opinion. And when doctors can see that we’ve created good-quality embryos, they can vouch for the fact that they’ve received good-quality medical care. And this is important because it increases the patient’s confidence in our competence.
The next question, of course, is: why don’t all IVF clinics provide embryo photos? This is the real billion-dollar question!
One possibility is that they aren’t confident about the quality of the embryos they produce and choose to hide information because they’re not willing to be transparent. And then you wonder, Why do they want to hide information? But the more important question is: Why don’t patients demand embryo photos routinely and proactively from every IVF clinic they go to? Why do they leave everything up to the IVF doctor? After all, patients are educated, they’re intelligent, they’re smart, and they understand the importance of embryo photos.
I think if patients started being proactive and insisting on these, then all IVF clinics would automatically start giving them, irrespective of what they’ve been doing so far. So please don’t allow your IVF clinic to intimidate you and get away with taking shortcuts or hiding information from you, because this is not in your best interests! Be assertive, speak up, and demand photos; this is your legal right, and you are paying for treatment, so there is no reason for a doctor to shortchange you!
Need more guidance !
Please get your doubts resolved free using our chatbot which is powered by AI based on Dr Malpani’s 40 years of clinical expertise and experience at https://www.drmalpani.com/chat-w-chatbot/index.html. This will ensure you’re on the right path and potentially save significant costs in the long run.