An Egg
Digital News Report- The recent birth of octuplets in California has caused outrage and has been described as “criminal negligence” by Dr. Mark Perloe, medical director with Georgia Reproductive Specialists. Before giving birth to the octuplets, Nadya Suleman, a 33-year old single mother, already had six children. According Nadya, the same physician treated her for each of her pregnancies.
Nadya used In vitro fertilization to conceive her children. During an interview on NBC’s Today Show, she stated that six embryos had been transferred to her uterus. Two of them divided into twins. In the same interview, Nadya stated that it was, “always a dream of mine, to have a large family,” and that she had a “lonely childhood.”
In a recent online interview Suleman’s mother stated, “To have them all is unconscionable to me… She really, really has no idea what she’s doing to her children and to me.”
“Transferring six embryos was outside any existing standard,” Dr. Perloe said. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines state only one to two embryos should be transferred via IVF to women under age 35. For women older than 40, the maximum is five embryos. Candis Cohen, spokeswoman for the Medical Board of California, stated that they were investigating the unnamed doctor who transferred the high number of embryos for “violation of the standard of care.”
In addition to already having six children, Nadya has a medical history involving a back injury. “It is doubtful with her back problems, which were exacerbated by pregnancy, and with her having six children already that we would have even considered IVF treatment,” he said.
Further, Dr. Perloe said, counseling which precedes any form of fertility treatment is part of the overall process. For a physician to learn that Suleman was a single mother of six youngsters already certainly was enough to raise some questions. In addition, her medical history included a job-related back injury.
Dr. Perloe encouraged women and men who believe they may be facing fertility issues to seek an experienced fertility doctor to discuss the many options available for the want-to-be parents. “There are safe, proven methods for successful single births that significantly reduce the chances of having multiple births,” Dr. Perloe said
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