Octuplet mother

Nadya Suleman is in the news. Mother of eight children by the IVF method, she is 33 years old. The delivery was at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower, California. The sperm donor remains unidentified. Nadya wanted IVF as her fallopian tubes were plugged up. She wanted more children as she had grown up an only child in a dysfunctional family.

Some medical ethics are now involved here. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine should have a maximum of two embryos implanted in a woman under the age of 35 by the IVF method. This is but one of the many ethical, financial, psychological and medical issues involved in the case of Nadya. She has already six children by an earlier IVF. The Medical Board of California is seized of the matter and an investigation is possible. If the medical practitioner is found guilty, he may either be reprimanded or his license may be withdrawn.

Experts on bioethics state that the right to reproduce is not unlimited as it put the children at risk. Professional regulations are called for to avoid such repetitions.

Nadya says she is returning to school to get a master’s in counseling to care for such a big family. One IVF procedure costs $10,000, but Nadya was earning only $625 a week. However, Nadya had received $167,908 in disability payment for a back injury she suffered in September 1999.

Soure: BBC News