Eliminating multiple pregnancies: an appropriate target for government intervention?

The manuscript in this issue of the journal by Bissonette et al. reports on a new government-sponsored intervention into the practice of IVF within the province of Quebec, Canada, which in the authors' opinion highly successfully reduced twinning rates, while maintaining overall acceptable pregnancy rates. Given the opportunity to comment, their manuscript, in my opinion, only reemphasizes why, despite wide professional support, the concept of single embryo transfer (SET) is: (i) damaging to most infertility patients by reducing pregnancy chances; (ii) does so without compensatory benefits; (iii) impinges on patients' rights to self-determination; (iv) has significant negative impact on IVF-generated birth rates; and (v) thus, demonstrating, once more, that governments should not interfere with the patient-physician relationships. (C) 2011, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.