Make that 14: Octuplet mom already had 6 kids
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27 Comments
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wuzzademcrat
Watch the media try and whip up for this woman the kind of hatred they directed at Sarah Palin.
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Triumvere
WTF.
14? That's just wrong. We shouldn't be giving fertility treatments to people that don't need them. Unethical indeed.
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buddha4brains
No one said Palin cannot be a mom, it was the idea of her being the VP that turned people's stomachs. She and McCain lost, get over it.
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WilliB
14 kids and no dad? Somethings wrong in that picture. She is only thinking about her obsession, but not about the children she is creating.
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Betzee
It's clear regulating the fertility industry, as is done in most other countries, is in the American public's interest. I would assume the doctors who made the decision to implant eight embryos were looking at it from the publicity angle. Successful delivery would garner them a lot of accolades. The woman herself apparently felt, "The more the better." Never mind multiple births "cause insurance premiums to rise when hospitals cannot get reimbursed for the huge costs such babies incur, and because those with disabilities typically require social services."
Those on the Right need to re-evaluate their grounds to complain that lack of "personal responsibility" is what ails America. This single mother by choice may be able to make some dough selling the rights to photograph her brood, but it's not gonna be enough to see them all to adulthood.
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Betzee
Nor were her children and grandchild conceived in a petri dish. Reproductive technology has raised new issues. Arthur Caplan, the medical ethicist quoted in the article, lives about two blocks from my parents. When I spoke to my mother last night she said, "I saw the media trucks go by and I knew it had to do with that woman in Los Angeles."
They come around on a regular basis as technology enables us to reproduce and prolong life in new ways. By contrast, teen pregnancy has been around since the beginning of time.
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cleo
Speechless.
Giving fertility treatment to a woman who already has six kids and obviously doesn't need it - if that isn't malpractice, surely it should be?
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Betzee
The doctors involved are taking refuge in the logic of the free market, "someone comes to me for a service and I provide it, blah, blah, blah."
Though I admire the candor of those who've spoken and written about their own experiences with selective reduction of implanted embryos, I'm personally not comfortable with it. So I would never have myself implanted with more embryos ("superovulated") than I would be able to medically carry and raise as children. Certainly guidelines should regulate this; in the UK the maximum number of implanted embryos is two. Then of course there's the issue of whether someone who already has six children should receive fertility treatment at all, but that's a separate issue.
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sailwind
Ladies,
She is just doing her right to choose.
let her breed like a rabbit and be happy with it.
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Betzee
While being devoutly religious may predispose one against abortion, few religions endorse fertility treatment either. If you can't get pregnant the natural way, well that's God's way of tellin' ya it's not meant to be.
If I used Kaiser and my premiums went up because of this multiple birth, well I'd be hoping mad!
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benhur
i wasnt interested in this article.. just wondering what JT posters have to say.. '-p
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Betzee
A while back I read an article by a man whose wife had become pregnant with the aid of reproductive technology such as was used in this case. An ultrasound revealed she was carrying three babies, by that point they may have passed from the embryo stage into a fetus (8 weeks?). Either the parents-to-be decided they only wanted one, or the doctor recommended a selective reduction for medical reasons. So they aborted the two boys and kept the girl on the grounds males are more prone to schizophrenia.
This is not a position I would put myself in. But he did a public service by alerting people to choices they may have to make if they opt for multiple embryo implantation to maximize the odds of one taking. It saves money, and if you're paying out of pocket that may be a consideration, but it opens the door to costs which are far higher in my opinion.
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neverknow2
It's called money! Heard of it??? There is plenty here in Japan. No shortage whatsoever
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Badsey
Nutters: even Angelina Jolie (and Brad Pitt) wouldn't try for 14 -but at least they have the finances to pull it off.
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tclh
If she wants to have 14 children and can support them(?),that is her choice, her life and it is true some people in the whole population prefer a very large family. If the society like to support them now and then it is alright too , for these children will be future tax payers or join the army to defend the nation.
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Betzee
And they are a couple, half of whose children have come from countries where parents have far less control over their fertility than this divorced mother of six who, while in the midst of bankruptcy, decided to expand her family through artificial insemination. That means she has assumed sole financial responsibility for these eight additional children. They will likely need special ed and a host of other services that will be provided by the taxpayer.
The fertility industry needs to be regulated. I say that not because certain aspects of it bother me personally, but because it's not in society's interest to encourage such artificially created families that are far beyond the size Mother Nature would yield.
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shiuu
I were in charge I'd let her have as many kids as she wanted. But I wouldn't give her a dime of taxpayer money to support them.
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sensei258
She's 33 years old, living with her parents, already had six kids aged 2 to 7, and now there's eight more?! Damn, no wonder the mother told her "When you come home from the hospital, I'll be gone." (That is a quote from a Los Angeles news story). Can you imagine being in that "modest one-story home".
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Betzee
I think there's a way to do this without giving a means test, setting some arbitrary number of children as "too many," or making an issue of single parent status. Many single people who want children opt to achieve parenthood this way; fully aware they will have to cover all the expenses related to child rearing as a single-income earner.
Rather the number of implanted embryos should be limited to two. In many countries, it's one. Multiple births present medical challenges for the mother and greatly increase the risk of birth defects like cerebral palsy for the children. As the ethicist quoted above observed, "The medical costs can be crushing" and those are going to be defrayed to others in one way or another, such as increased premiums.
Moreover, limiting the number of embryos negates the need for selective fetus reduction if several take.
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Betzee
The problem with this approach is that it punishes the kids for the sins of the parent. Once they are here, they are entitled to be treated like everyone else.
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sensei258
Betzee - I agree with you, but I wouldn't call 14 an arbitrary number in this case. You are right that the children should be assisted like anyone else, if they need it. But 14 children?
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sensei258
Oh, maybe maybe having 14 deductions will give her such a large income tax return that she can pay off her million-dollars of debt.
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Betzee
Almost everyone would agree agree 14 is "too many." In fact most would see six as enough for a single mother. But we don't want to make laws based on one case. It remains problematic to say, "well, if you have five children you can receive fertility treatment, but not if you have six."
I hold the doctors responsible for implanting eight embryos. It's clear she did not have conception problems if she'd already given birth to six, including a set of twins. In fact I don't know why she needed to go the implanted embryo route at all, the turkey baster (as it's known in some circles) would have worked fine. All she needed to was go to the sperm bank on the right day....
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Helter_Skelter
Ageed. Have as many kids as you want, but you pay for them.
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wuzzademcrat
"I hold the doctors responsible for implanting eight embryos."
The mother is single - there's no male villain here - so I guess you gotta find someone.
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Betzee
Why do you assume they were male? There were a total of 64 involved in the delivery of the octuplets; I wonder if there was enough staff left over to handle all the other babies born that day in this hospital.
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Hotbox08
Clearly the mother was being selfish and greedy. There are so many people out there that is struggling to conceive just one child. This is so different than if she had gotten pregnant naturally, since the fact that she went out of her way to conceive eight, artificially, shows that she wasn't happy or content with the six she already had. And I guess that is the main point in all of this: There is a BIG difference with having a big family naturally vs. artificially.
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