WebMD -- Jan. 27, 2011 -- Maternal deaths resulting from in vitro fertilization (IVF) are relatively rare, but they do occur, British doctors warn in an editorial in the journal BMJ. In the U.S. there were more than 140,000 IVF cycles in 2008, according to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). During IVF, an egg and sperm are fertilized outside of the body in a laboratory and then implanted in the woman’s uterus. Fertility drugs are often used to stimulate a woman’s ovaries to produce eggs.
