[Is there an influence of IVF law on our medical treatment]. / Gesetzlicher Stellenwert und juristische Aspekte der Reproduktionsmedizin in Osterreich.

ABSTRACT

After first successful attempts of IVF treatment medical action was for the better part faced with a legislative vacuum. It took more than ten years until appropriate legal provisions for treatment in reproductive medicine could be established in Austria, thus eliminating numerous legal uncertainties. Compared to other countries patients and physicians can be satisfied with both public support by social security legislation (IVF Support Fund Act, 2000) and the regulations of the Reproductive Medicine Act (FMedG, 1992). An international comparison shows that legal provisions in Austria have avoided excessively liberal interpretation as well as the risk of excessively tight interpretation. Nevertheless, daily practice reveals serious flaws in these laws, which have been amended in 2004. One the one hand the Reproductive Medicine Act constitutes a severe infringement of the equal rights principle in certain situations, while other passages may result in a hastier use of invasive treatment methods than originally intended.