Columnist John Katsilometes: Doctor finds fertile ground in Las Vegas

John Katsilometes' column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Reach him at 259-2327 or [email protected].

Fertility specialist Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg places a slide with a drop of milky white fluid under a microscope. Next to the piece of equipment sits a color television monitor broadcasting the action under the microscope's prying eyes.

"There! Right there!" Steinberg says, pointing a pen toward the screen and tracking the activity. "That one right there is a rocket!"

A rocket sperm.

"This is a good specimen," Steinberg says as hundreds of happy little baby makers dart across the screen. "There is a lot of activity. We're really happy with this specimen."

A visionary with more than two decades of experience in the world of fertility and pregnancy, Steinberg is the directory of Fertility Institutes of Las Vegas, the first and only sperm bank in the state. The bank opened six months ago and Steinberg has successfully inseminated a half-dozen women.

"So far we've had no problems at all," says Steinberg, a graying, curly haired gentleman with a sharp wit. "Unfortunately, there's always the problem with the nine-month waiting period to have an actual baby."

Fertility Institutes fills a need for troubled couples who used to have to travel to Los Angeles for similar services. California is a sperm bank hotbed -- "There's one on every corner," Steinberg notes, adding that no other Western state offered such fertility services until he set up shop in Las Vegas.

"I moved here and said, 'What is this? There's no sperm bank here,' " says Steinberg, who has relocated from Los Angeles. "There's a very limited number of infertility doctors in this city and they're as busy as busy can be. I think they're too busy to start a bank because it's a lot of work."

The first step in Steinberg's process was to recruit sperm donors. The clinic zeroed in on young, healthy males by advertising in local college newspapers. But any college-aged guy who expects to pick up a few extra beer bucks for, um, performing a little self-gratification at the clinic is in for a sobering surprise.

"We have a 50-page screening questionnaire they have to fill out. We do a sperm count on them and a full, detailed medical screening," Steinberg says. "They fill out a profile and we make sure they have a decent medical history. We want healthy young males, and we have a lot of healthy young males who are willing to provide specimens."

But the vast majority are not worthy of providing healthy specimens on a regular basis. Eight out of 10 candidates are eliminated through the very first phone call, usually because of an inordinately high number of sexual partners, homosexual exposure or a family history of hepatitis. If a potential donor passes the phone screening, he runs through the questionnaire, and if he's cleared he then provides a sample specimen, which is subsequently frozen in a tiny vial.

Six months later the process is repeated. Each sample is tested for HIV, and if both tests of the sample turn up negative, the donor is retained and can supply up to four specimens per month. The specimens are thawed monthly and tested. If handled properly they can remain fertile indefinitely.

For donors, making regular deposits can prove to be a profitable practice.

"Our regular donors are motivated guys willing to do it," Steinberg says. "The average donor we're using on a regular basis makes $700 per month."

But there's a catch.

"No sexual activity within 72 hours of each visit," Steinberg says. "We know if someone's, cheated. We do a sperm count right away and if it's really low, we say, 'Heeeeey, wait a second here.' "

Donors also provide a personality profile. One example: A male of Irish and English descent has A-positive blood, green eyes, straight brown hair, a light skin tone, stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 135 pounds. He is a first-year graduate student majoring in psychology and his interests include piano, tennis and reading.

"It's like shopping for china," Steinberg says. "You'd think that people would be happy with just a healthy specimen, but they get very, very picky."

Other than servicing the clinic as a sort of sperm-making machine, every donor is explicitly informed he will not know if they have successfully impregnated a woman or what, if anything, has happened with his specimen.

"If they ask once, we tell them we won't tell them," Steinberg says. "If they press us, they're automatically off our list of donors. We don't want a child being harassed by a donor."

However, couples sometimes request a specific donor. Refusing to name names, Steinberg says a famous Las Vegas entertainer has been retained by a local couple for possible insemination. The celebrity has provided specimens to the clinic, and his sperm is being frozen until Dec. 27 when it will be thawed and tested for HIV.

"This is a famous person, oh yeah," Steinberg says. "You'd know him in a heartbeat."

Steinberg's patients are primarily men who have undergone vasectomies and have decided they want children after all, but do not want to take a chance with a vasectomy reversal procedure. Men are being advised to provide samples prior to undergoing a vasectomy, just in case.

"I don't know why more men don't use that as an option," Steinberg says. "It's so logical. But again, until recently there was no sperm bank (in Las Vegas) for them to use that option."

Couples usually find a wide range of costs when first seeking fertility services, but donor specimens are relatively inexpensive -- just $175 per specimen, and the whole process (including insemination) runs less than $1,000. However, it is common for some struggling couples to spend thousands of dollars, depending on the service.

One of Steinberg's patients, who didn't want her name used for this column, has been attempting to have one of her own eggs fertilized by her husband's sperm outside her womb. If the process doesn't work, the couple will adopt.

"We've spent $20,000 and we're willing to spend $100,000 if we need to," the woman says. "Money is the least of our concerns."

Which is why Steinberg's services are so beneficial. For couples trying to have a baby, a fertile sample is more valuable than gold.

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