title: Old, older and too old: age limits for medically assisted fatherhood?
abstract: How old is too old to be a father? Can you be a little bit older or "old-ish" to be a dad without being considered an "older dad"? At some point, does one simply become too old to be a father? Unless a man requires medical assistance in family building, that answer has historically turned solely on his opportunity to have a willing female partner of reproductive age. As with so many other aspects of family building, assisted reproductive technologies have transformed the possibilities for-and spawned heated debates about-maternal age. Much attention has been given to this contentious topic for potential mothers, with many programs putting age-related limitations in place for their female patients. This article considers whether there should also be limits-and how we should approach that question-for men who require and seek medical assistance to become fathers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: andrea.braverman@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea Mechanick
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Braverman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010331:Paternal Age; D018579:Patient Selection / Q000941:ethics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Paternal age; age limits; counseling; psychology