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Isabelle Oderberg

Isabelle Oderberg

Isabelle Oderberg is a freelance writer.

In the past two months, we’ve seen two cases of the wrong embryos transferred into patients, clinics providing incorrect information to sperm donors, and a class action against a number of IVF companies for add-on genetic testing that may have incorrectly found embryos were “abnormal”.

IVF ‘add-ons’ are a toxic cherry on a cake iced with desperation and hope

Some treatments have little evidence to support their use and others risk adverse effects. Yet IVF add-ons are regularly offered to desperate patients.

  • Isabelle Oderberg

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More than 150,000 Australian women have experienced a miscarriage.

It was in the final moments of my eighth pregnancy when I began to shiver uncontrollably

I remember the abject fear of the operating theatre. Lying there, so close to having my miracle baby, I felt like I was floating in a bubble of terror.

  • Isabelle Oderberg
Jana Horska.

Years after Jana’s horror story made headlines, the system is still letting women down

At 14 weeks pregnant, Jana Horska miscarried in the waiting room toilet at Royal North Shore Hospital’s emergency department. Sixteen years later, what has really changed?

  • Isabelle Oderberg
Helen Perrottet is pictured on 09 March, 2023. Photo: Brook Mitchell

Simple, kind, and not uttered enough: what to say after miscarriage

Another high-profile woman, Helen Perrottet, has spoken publicly about her losses. But, like many others, her experience shows change is sorely needed.

  • Isabelle Oderberg
Children are often manipulated or extorted into producing sexual content themselves, and the deep shame can stop them reporting the abuse.

Talking about grief is something we need to get better at

It astounds me that in an era where we share so very much about ourselves – what we’re eating, what drinking, what we’re watching – that talking about grief is something we are so bad at.

  • Isabelle Oderberg
Epidurals may be limited for birthing mothers in the midst of a global shortage.

Use of epidural kits limited as global shortage hits Australian hospitals

Health officials in Victoria and NSW are issuing directives to limit epidural kit usage to obstetric patients only amid a worldwide shortage that has hit Australia’s hospitals.

  • Isabelle Oderberg