IVF clinics

A couple and the biological parents of their daughter have reached a custody agreement after an alleged in vitro fertilization mix-up, according to ABC News. The reported deal settles the dispute over the child, whose biological parents are another pair. Details of the agreement, the fertility clinic involved and the families' identities have not been disclosed, and it is not clear whether any legal action is being pursued over the alleged error.

Fertility clinics increasingly offer IVF 'add-ons' — extra treatments like genetic screening or immune therapies — marketed to parents desperate to conceive. Scientific American examines whether these costly extras are actually supported by robust scientific evidence, amid concerns that hope is being sold where clinical proof is thin.

IVF clinics increasingly offer costly 'add-on' treatments—extras like genetic screening or immune therapies—that lack solid evidence of improving success rates. Desperate patients feel pressured to pay for them, fearing they may sacrifice their only chance of having a child if they decline. Critics argue the industry exploits this emotional vulnerability and is calling for better regulation and clearer, evidence-based counselling for fertility patients.