The director of Ireland's largest private fertility clinic, Dr Tony Walsh, has called for an immediate inquiry into the death of a woman who was undergoing fertility treatment at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.
The woman, who was in her early 30s, died from a condition called ovarian hyper-stimulation, a complication of her fertility treatment which resulted in swelling of the ovaries inside the abdominal cavity.
The Rotunda's acting master, Dr Peter McKenna, said a full review of procedures at the hospital's infertility treatment centre would now take place.
He stressed ovarian hyper-stimulation was very rare, occurring in between 1 and 4 per cent of women undergoing fertility treatment.
"It's usually a very mild problem. Its severity in this case was extremely unusual and as far as I'm aware, it's the first fatality we had in this hospital in 12 years of IVF during which we treated thousands of patients," he said.
He urged people to be fully aware of the "potential pitfalls" involved in IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) treatment, but said this woman's death should not discourage others from being treated.
Dr Walsh, a consultant gynaecologist at the Sims International Clinic, claimed the risk of death from ovarian hyper-stimulation was one in 100,000. Furthermore, he said there had been fewer than 10 deaths from the condition in Britain since fertility treatment began there 25 years ago and no deaths in the Republic.
"A death resulting from infertility treatment is so rare that I believe the Minister for Health should instigate an independent public inquiry into what happened in this case," he said.
"An independent public inquiry which examines what happened and the protocols which were followed in treating this patient would help reassure practitioners and more importantly patients currently receiving fertility treatment," he added.
A spokeswoman for the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said he would be receiving a full report on the incident.
The woman who died was transferred from the Rotunda to the Mater Hospital when she developed complications. She died there three weeks ago, but when asked if an inquest would be held into her death, a spokeswoman for the Mater said it would not be commenting on the case.
A spokesman for the Dublin City Coroner's officer said it was likely an inquest would be held.
Dr Walsh said ovarian hyper-stimulation was preventable and treatable. "Modern medicine allows for the condition to be brought under control quiet easily. That is why it is disturbing for all of us involved in providing fertility treatment in Ireland that this death should have occurred," he said.
An estimated 2,000 IVF treatments are carried out in the State every year. The Sims clinic, which was inundated with calls from worried women yesterday, has established a helpline. It will be open from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. over the weekend and will be manned by a trained IVF nurse. The helpline number is (01) 497 9512.