Many infertility patients are refused sick leave for treatment. Kate Brian urges employers to respect the needs of their staff during a difficult processI took a bulging diary to the fertility clinic when I was planning my first IVF cycle, and carefully plotted each stage of treatment, neatly arranging it around my job as a television news producer. I thought I could manage without anyone at the office finding out, and booked a few days leave to coincide with the expected time of egg collection and embryo transfer when I knew it would be difficult to work. I was relieved to discover the cycle would be over just in time for the start of a court case I’d been working on for weeks.Of course, fertility treatment doesn’t always go according to plan, and nor does television news. An IVF cycle involves regular visits to the fertility clinic, and I soon became more worried about fitting my clinic appointments around my job than I was about the treatment itself. There was the panic when a delay meant the IVF might run over into the court case, the frantic call from Heathrow to check I had the right drugs with me when I was sent away for a few days, the economies with the truth about why I was late for work when I’d spent hours in the clinic waiting room. The treatment wasn’t successful, and I couldn’t help thinking it might be partly my own fault for getting so stressed. Next time around, I told my boss, reduced my working hours and took some time off. Not long afterwards, I was pregnant. Continue reading…
Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Trying times: fertiliity treatment
