Prognosis: Misconception

At long last, it's the day of Kristen’s retrieval. As she waits to find out her results, she investigates why so many people are freezing their eggs now — and whether there is any science on the horizon that could make things easier for future generations.

Kristen is trying to figure out where to freeze. While trying to pick a clinic, she uncovers how an influx of private equity and other funding hasn’t actually made things better for fertility patients. She learns about fertility mishaps, mistakes and how labs and clinics are really run.

As Kristen stresses about how to pay for fertility treatment, she meets people who had to go extreme lengths to afford the services in a system where insurance coverage is spotty. And she travels to Oklahoma to check out one company that’s trying to make the treatment accessible for all.

Reporter Kristen V. Brown visits a fertility clinic to find out whether she can still have kids. And she explores the moment the fertility industry really exploded: when doctors realized they could sell egg freezing as a preventative service, not just as a medical treatment.

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.