Malicious Medicine: Fraud and falsehood in infertility clinics
by Anitha Jayadevan
Penguin, 2009
Science fiction through the ages has been replete with bizarre forms of human reproduction, as technology attempts to overtake nature in unimaginable ways. But rarely do people have close encounters with such experiments in their own lives. And when that experience is physically painful, emotionally taxing and non-consensual – as with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) – it demands an examination of the related procedures, ethics and laws. This slim volume is Anitha Jayadevan's first-person account of her traumatic interaction with the medical establishment when trying to conceive.
While it is somewhat wearying to follow the author's obsession with having a child utilising genetic material from herself and her husband, her pertinent queries about the anarchic world of ART clinics in India make the reader sit up. Why, for example, when intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a largely discredited procedure in the West do clinics in India continue to use it unquestioningly? Why are donor gametes (the first stages of a fertilised egg) used without the knowledge of couples undergoing ART?
Though Jayadevan went on to have a healthy baby (ironically with no 'assistance', despite eight years of doing the rounds of fertility specialists), challenging ART procedures became something of a crusade. This schoolteacher from a small town in Kerala doggedly taught herself medical terminology and legalese in order to point out the lacunae in existing guidelines. Details of litigation, parliamentary questions and correspondence with relevant ministries, despite the arcane language, make gripping reading for anyone interested in a David v Goliath battle. The translation from the original Malayalam manuscript by the renowned physician P K R Warrier (where did he find the time?!) effectively communicates the pathos and anger engendered by fraudulent ART procedures. (Laxmi Murthy)