17-year-old demands IVF

The mother of a 17-year-old girl demanded fertility treatment for her daughter on the National Health Service (NHS). The teenager, who has a steady boyfriend but is thought to still be living at home, was accompanied by her mother to the family doctor in Hartlepool, Teesside, who was asked to recommend her for in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

The case was reported by Pat Sole, a director with the local community health council, to a group looking into the area's high teenage pregnancy rates. 'This illustrates the different perceptions people of have of teenage pregnancies', she said.

A spokesman for Tees Health Authority, which spends about £150,000 a year paying for infertility treatment, refused to reveal whether the girl had actually been treated. But he added that she would not have qualified under their guidelines. 'We do have a maximum age of 39 at the time of procedure but no lower age. However, our guidelines stipulate that patients should have undergone three years of unexplained infertility before undergoing treatment and that they should be involved in an ongoing stable relationship of three years.'