Health committee  Again, my understanding was that this was going to come later on in the process, but I've been happy with the consultation process so far.

Health committee  In the view of expediency, yes, I think we would be happy simply to pass it down.

Health committee  I'll answer. This is not pertaining to stem cell research, but perhaps it pertains to other research in which one may look at, for example, freezing embryo techniques, which is embryo research to improve care. Our current practices are first to obtain the patient's consent to t

Health committee  I missed the beginning part of your question.

Health committee  I would hope that most clinics consent patients roughly in the way the proposed regulations have laid out. Of course, I can't speak for every single clinic everywhere. When we have discussed these proposed regulations as a group with all the directors of all the IVF clinics, we h

Health committee  I would just quickly concur. From a clinical point of view, I would say the same thing. In other words, there is a wide variation in the way we obtain consent for all parts of the AHR. However, in principle, this is the right sort of thing that most people do, and this will help

Health committee  That decision would be made primarily by the embryologist, who studies the quality of an embryo in a laboratory to determine whether it would be able to survive being frozen and thawed. The embryologist, in consultation with the clinician and the couple whose embryo it is, will t

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  Excuse me. Can I just make a very quick point?

Health committee  There are certain cases in which you may have embryos that are not good enough to freeze--in other words, they're not going to survive being frozen and thawed--but they are not going to transfer either. Therefore, the idea that it's in the best interest of the patient to either t

Health committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me here. I'm speaking on behalf of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society. The CFAS provides the leadership, we believe, in reproductive health. We include physicians and laboratory staff, nurses, psychologists, and