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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the amendment and I will point out a problem that I can see arising if it is not made to the Bill. These women have gone through huge emotional trauma in trying to conceive, about which we have heard much. We all know that women are at risk of a postnatal psychosis. I cannot see how clinicians can act in the best interests of the patient if they are hamstrung by a confidentiality clause which is outwith the normal rules of practice. The amendment seeks to regularise that position. I also have a slight concern that those women who are insistent on very tight secrecy may actually be in a state of denial about the fact that they needed infertility treatment in the first place. In my mind, that could be a red flag indicating that they might be particularly at risk in the future, because it would suggest that they had not come to terms with the situation—unlike the patient treated on the aeroplane by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, who was not in a state of denial. The amendment is important for the functioning of clinical practice in the best interests of patients.