Justine Griffin, a business reporter at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, was dining at her parents’ home last summer. The conversation was lively, as always, with laughter and recycled family jokes. And then Justine broke the news that she wanted to help somebody have a baby. The dinner banter – and her life – changed.
What started as a personal mission to honor a childhood friend evolved into an evocative narrative as Justine took readers into what has evolved into a national discussion about a fertility industry and shadow promises for the unsuspecting donors. The Cost of Life published May 25, 2014, in the Herald-Tribune and at www.costoflife.heraldtribune.com. The project’s innovative approach and unique voice fits well with the intent of the Association of Healthcare Journalists.
“I knew I wanted to donate my eggs. What I didn’t know was that I was stepping into an unregulated world of crafting Barbie doll babies, one where few medical studies have ever been done on tracking the health of donors and the long-term risks from the hormones we inject,” Justine writes. “What began as a hopeful account with the fertility industry, and my attempt to honor a childhood friend that passed away, devolved into a tangle of broken promises and scary science experiments. The more I uncovered about this $3 billion industry through my own experiences, the more I felt compelled to write about it. “
Justine found was that the topic of egg donation – which targets young females — had gone largely unreported. Among her findings:
– One of the most commonly prescribed invitro fertilization drugs, Lupron, is used off label, or not for its intended purpose. The drug was developed to treat men with prostate issues and has been used for chemical castration.
– Universities with medical school programs are home to reproductive endocrinology departments that make enough money from IVF treatments to fund entire schools within the university. Generally, fertility doctors are among the highest-paid employees at private universities.
– Meanwhile more women are experiencing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a painful side effect when ovaries produce too many eggs. Others experienced irreversible outcomes after donating, like infertility and endometriosis.
The Cost of Life blends Justine’s reporting with the anxieties and struggles she endured while living this story. She writes: “I wouldn’t tell my mom and dad that I woke up to tumbleweeds of my own blond hair on my pillows, and that it would fall out in clumps for months. Or about the number of times I vomited from nausea and migraines, induced by the high levels of hormones I was pumping through my body. I wouldn’t tell them that no one knew if the effects of these hormones would haunt me later in life.”
The Herald-Tribune is a 73,000 daily along the Gulf Coast of Florida that has a reputation for tackling big issue that attract national attention. The Cost of Life is distinguishable because of the different experiences it created for print readers (a 15,000-word special news section) and what has evolved into a national digital audience. Thank you for considering Justine’s work for this award.