News & Politics - Birth of Octuplets in California Raises Ethical Questions

ceilirose · 02-04-2009, 10:23 AM

Last week a California woman gave birth to octuplets and a few days later the news surfaced that she already had six children.

Should she have been fertilized with that many embryos after already having that many children? I would think that before you undergo fertilization treatments that an extensive background check and psychological evaluation takes place. Maybe not.

Here's a snippet of the story and a link to the rest:

Eight babies, even more questions - Washington Post- msnbc.com

Quote:

LOS ANGELES - Public opinion seems to be cresting against her, her own mother is rattled, and now fertility experts are suggesting the case of Nadya Suleman and her octuplets constitutes a breach of medical guidelines.

Suleman, 33, gave birth to six boys and two girls by Caesarean section Jan. 26 at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, Calif. The miraculous event — reportedly one of only two live octuplet births ever in the United States — quickly drew criticism after it was revealed that Suleman is single, unemployed, lives with her mother and already has six children — including twins — ranging in age from 2 to 7.

Her daughter "is not evil, but she is obsessed with children. She loves children, she is very good with children, but obviously, she overdid herself," her mother, Angela Suleman, told the Los Angeles Times. She decided to have more embryos implanted in hopes of having "just one more girl."

**sunnykerr** · 02-04-2009, 07:24 PM

I tried to merge the other posts from the "Strange News" thread, but my computer skills are just that mediocre, I guess.

Anyway, I guess my main concern is what will happen to all of her children. I really don't mean to slam single mothers. My mother was one and she was (and is) an awesome, capable mother. And I don't know this woman. Maybe she can do it.

The fact that her parents won't be involved gives me a little pause, seeing as one would hope she would have a wealth of resources to draw upon, including people.

That would be my big worry.

As to the amount of embryos she was implanted with... well, we don't actually know, right? I mean, yeah, she wound up with a huge amount of babies. But we don't know from how many embryos. We don't know how many are the norm.

After all, it's really rare that IVF actually works out so thoroughly. And, when it does happen, isn't "selective reduction" usually the norm?

**TheAngel** · 02-05-2009, 10:15 AM

I'm sorry, there's no way any mother, a single mother, can raise 14 children and give them all the attention and care they deserve. Do you know how expensive this is going to be as well? How is she going to take care of the little ones but help the older ones with their homework? What is she going to do if some of them get sick? I'm tired of this mentality that says, if you can have children, you should have children. Being able to get pregnant doesn't mean you're going to make a good mother.

According to what I've heard, for a woman younger than 35 they're only supposed to implant two embryos. In her case, they implanted way more than that.

vc318 · 02-05-2009, 06:51 PM

The worst part about this is she is out to seek attention from the media. She is demanding her own t.v. show and is hoping Oprah will invite her out to her show. sighs It seems that she's looking for a handout or something...

**TheAngel** · 02-05-2009, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

The worst part about this is she is out to seek attention from the media. She is demanding her own t.v. show and is hoping Oprah will invite her out to her show. sighs It seems that she's looking for a handout or something...

She'd better be. Because being unemployed there's no other way she's going to be able to take care of these kids. This kind of thing just makes me want to hit my head against a wall.

ceilirose · 02-06-2009, 10:44 AM

MSNBC ran part of her interview this morning. Well...she comes off as a little defensive which is understandable and was going on about her childhood not being happy, dysfunctional etc., etc.

Oh well..that happens to a lot of people too but having 14 kids to make up for it seems a bit excessive. I have problems with the doctors who went through with this as well as her.

**sunnykerr** · 02-06-2009, 06:53 PM

I'm reading to start blaming the doctors, too, as soon as someone tells me that it is a fact that they knew this would be the outcome from the outset.

Mostly, I worry about those kids. She's apparently planning to go back to college to finish a masters in counselling in the fall. I wonder how she can afford to take care of them, both financially and emotionally/psychologically.

**Cristofle** · 02-07-2009, 07:40 PM

What bothers me about her most of all is she's all about how this makes HER feel, about HER childhood and about how this is HER way to make it up to HERSELF. I don't think she's even remotely considering this in terms of the best interest of the children. She's trying to fill a void within herself.

**sunnykerr** · 02-07-2009, 07:47 PM

I saw that preview of the interview she gave to... someone at NBC. And I'm glad I did.

I does seem like she is big on having children. They mentionned how motherhood got her out of a depression she had years ago following an accident of some sort.

They also mentionned that she had been implanted with six embryos this time, as well as for all of her six previous pregnancies, clarifying for me that her infertility issues were such that no one realistically anticipated the outcome of this pregnancy.

I'm not sure I feel it's ethical to have implanted her with that many embryos anyway... but I can see how, if they'd done so six times before with a single pregnancy being the result... I can see how the risk was considered minimal.

And, apparently, she's the beneficiary of a rather sizeable settlement stemming from the accident I just mentionned. So, at the very least, she won't be on the public dole.

Still, emotionally, psychologically... I do wonder how she's planning on taking care of all of these children.

But, there comes a point where, if CPS are okay with the situation, then it's none of my beeswax.

vc318 · 02-08-2009, 11:55 AM

God forbid any young teenager was watching this. I mean, desperately having so many kids just to make up for having a lonely childhood? I feel a little bad for her now.

**sunnykerr** · 02-08-2009, 06:16 PM

Well, I hardly think a teenager could avail themselves of not only a voluntary sperm donation, but also of the services of a fertility expert, through their sole volition.

vc318 · 02-10-2009, 07:15 PM

I was reading that her grandmother or something branded her as being a lazy person who doesn't take care of her kids. Hopefully this will become old news soon.

origami_shoes · 02-11-2009, 05:39 PM

I just don't know how anyone could cope with that many kids. I mean she's gonna need a massive minibus ! And can you imagine making packed lunches for them ? It's just mad.

**sunnykerr** · 02-11-2009, 08:18 PM

Well, we don't know how any single mother out there does it.

There was a woman on Extreme Makeover Home Edition who had four children of her own when her sister passed away and left her to care for her ten children. She's a single mother of fourteen kids, too.

Now, it's seriously not the same. That woman didn't have octuplets, but I'm sure it's not easy for her either.

For that matter, the last woman to give birth to octuplets in the U.S.A. (only seven survived, though) has a large family as well. She is married, but that doesn't automatically make a difference.

JudeNeary · 02-14-2009, 03:55 PM

In the news they said that woman made plastic surgery to be just like her idol, Angelina Jolie. More, they said the star influenced that woman when adopting all these children.


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