IVF doctors aghast at 65-year-old mum of quadruplets

Lisbon

EXPERTS at a top fertility conference are dismayed at the case of a German woman who after having 13 children has had in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) quadruplets at the age of 65.

The episode damages the reputation of IVF, which has enabled millions to know the joy of parenthood, they said. "It's the kind of tale which makes headlines around the world and skews the image of our field," said Francoise Shenfield, a specialist in reproductive medicine and bioethics at University College London.

The controversy swirls around Annegret Raunigk, a Berlin teacher near retirement age who is the oldest woman to have given birth to quadruplets. After going to Ukraine for IVF treatment from anonymous donors, Ms Raunigk gave birth last month to three boys and a girl, delivered by Caesarean about 15 weeks earl…