The UK has, according to an article in the British newspaper The Telegraph, one of the worst safety records for fertility treatment in Europe. New figures show that the risk of developing serious complications is four times higher than in other countries. These figures stem out from a report by the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.

This report warns that women’s lives are put in danger due to the need to increase the number of successful births. Therefore, the clinics in the UK have the highest levels of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) – one of the most serious downsides of IVF treatment, that can even be fatal, in which ovaries produce more eggs than expected.

This causes the ovaries to get bigger and the woman experiences nausea and pain in the abdomen. In the worst cases it can lead to shortness of breath and a decrease in the amount of urine produced.

The article states that at least two women with this illness have died in the past three years, but experts state that many more cases go unrecorded. Many patients are directed straight to casualty or intensive care, so their illness is not reported to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the fertility watchdog in the UK.

The figures show that Germany performed almost three times as many IVF cycles - implantations of fertilised embryos - as the UK in 2003, but the UK had nearly three times more cases of OHSS.

Dr Karl Nygren, the chairman of the International Committee on the Monitoring of Assisted Reproductive Technology, which monitors IVF treatments, said: “In the UK, you are good on efficacy - your success rates are in the top 10 countries - but your safety record is low” He added that “procedures are not being handled as optimally as they should be.”

The British Government has paid out nearly £1billion to compensate for mistakes made on maternity wards, and £828million has been spent on settling clinical negligence claims in childbirth cases since 1995.