The Octuplets
Posted on February 3rd, 2009 – 10:38 AMBy May Chen
Meghan Daum of the Los Angeles Times has octuplets derangement. So do I and I suspect many of you too as new information on the California babies dribbles out in the media - the mother’s previous six babies, her obsession with kids, her living with her parents, their recent bankruptcy filing, etc….
To her “Who? How? Why?” I’d like to add: “Who was her doctor?” and “What was he/she thinking?!”
In some European countries with national health insurance, doctors are limited to transfering just one embryo during in vitro fertilization. There are no such limits in America, where IVF is typically not covered by any insurance.
When I did a series on IVF in Minnesota last year, fertility doctors said they supported the idea of single-embryo transfer, simply because of the health risks of multiples to the mom as well as babies. But in the absence of such rules, they knew if they didn’t agree to transfer two or in rare cases three, another doctor down the street would.
But competitive pressure can’t possibly explain the EIGHT embryos transferred in California.
Here’s Daum’s piece. Cribsheeters?
11 Responses to "The Octuplets"
That fertility doctor was unethical (at the very least). I feel absolutely awful for those poor children. It’s hard to give twins individual attention sometimes. Those 8 babies will never get individual attention and nurturing. I can hardly stand to even think about it. She should give most of them up for adoption, for the babies’ sakes. I know she won’t though because that would ruin her book/TV deal.
I can only assume that the fertility doctor expects to get a cut as well; can’t imagine why else he/she would ever agree to something like this.
Can you tell I feel strongly about this? 
My thoughts on this are just so jumbled. I think it just hits a little close to home. We didn’t end up needing IVF to conceive Zoe, but we did need fertility treatments and did talk about IVF and did worry about twins (never worried about more than that though). The doctor we worked with though, only considered single and twin pregnancies to be a success and really took pains to avoid pregnancies with triplets or more.
Whoever the doctor was in this case is terribly unethical, and I hope it comes out and he/she is stripped of their license - though I suppose since there is no regulation, they probably will be able to continue practicing. Most doctors won’t transfer that many embryos - *especially* when the mother is under 35 years old *and* has already successfully conceived with IVF. There’s just no way to justify that happening.
It’s a little strange, because usually the cases of higher order multiple (higher than triplets) are cases of the woman taking fertility drugs without monitoring and having her ovaries overstimulated and then conceiving through either sex or insemination. There’s much less control in those situations.
That said, kudos to the doctors that were able to keep this woman pregnant for 30 weeks and deliver babies that appear to be quite healthy for being 10 weeks early. I believe I read that there is only one other case of all 8 octuplets surviving?
Yeah, sorry this is so jumbled.
It is so completely irresponsible on the mother’s part to have accepted a transfer of 8 embryos, as well her doctor to have done this. I also hope the doctor loses his license.
If someone really wants to have a lot of children, why not adopt? Why make babies and intentionally place them in a situation where their health is drastically at risk? She will be incredibly lucky if every single one of those babies doesn’t have serious health issues for their entire life. And what about her own health? She risked her life in accepting 8 embryos and in doing so risked the life of her 6 childrens’ mother.
Also, I don’t think that you need to have tons of money to have children either, but if you are having the types of financial problems this woman was having and already have 6 children, you should not go and intentionally have more. You need to think about the quality of life for your current children. I’m not saying that you need tons of money to buy them designer clothes or anything like that at all. But be financially stable enough to be able to afford to pay for your own apartment, be able to work a job, and not be filing for bankruptcy.
It just really bothers me to think of some irresponsible person bringing children into the world in this way.
Is there any way to put a ban on how many embryos can be legally transferred at one time and limit it to 3 or so?
It just makes me sick to hear about this. Especially when I know so many people that have trouble getting pregnant, and would give anything to have just have ONE baby.
She is irresponsible (and so is the doctor that did this) and I feel sorry for all of her children. I hate the fact that anyone wants to give her a book/tv show or movie deal. She is obviously getting the attention she was looking for!
As a woman experiencing fertility issues and having suffered multiple miscarriages, I have to say my first reaction to this story was anger. Like Brianna said, some of us would give anything in this world to have the pleasure of holding just one child in our arms. This woman for whatever reason feels the need to medically create 14 babies. Never mind that there are hundreds of thousands unwanted children in this country alone who could be adopted. If this woman didn’t want her embryos to “go to waste” then why wouldn’t she donate them to other couples who could use them?
After I recovered from the initial anger, all I feel now is pity and sorrow for both mother and children. I hope the doctor who implanted that many embryos gets investigated for ethical violations.
[…] Cribsheet – […]
I found myself thinking about how differently the resources expended to sustain this high-risk pregnancy and delivery could have been used.
In keeping with Lucie’s comment, I can’t help but notice the World Vision ads on this very page and others, reminding us of famine and hunger and that a child dies every 4 seconds.
Somebody asked why she wouldn’t just adopt if she wanted more children. I don’t think she’d be approved for an adoption given her family and financial situations. She was, however, allowed to implant eight embryos.
How many embryos are typically planted at one time for IVF? Is it usually no more than 3?
Kandace, there are no guidelines, but I believe the average is 2.3, but there are a lot of factors that might be involved - the age of the woman, the quality of the embryos, the fertility history of the woman. For women who are younger than 35 and have had prior pregnancies with IVF, it’s usually no more than 2.
