Honjii's Harangues

Woman Makes Generous Contribution to Population Explosion

I know it’s old news by now, but the story of the woman who gave birth to a litter octuplets got me thinking all sorts of odd thoughts.  Perhaps others also have these thoughts but have the grace not to voice them, or maybe it’s just me.

My very first thought was, holy crap if I had that many babies I pick the cutest one for myself then go sit in front of the grocery store like people do with puppies and kittens and try to find them good homes.

It’s not that multiple births are new, every year we hear news of one or two, it’s just that the number of babies born at one time seems to be increasing.  I guess that would be due to the improvement in fertility drugs.  I’m wondering if birthing will become an Olympic event, and even now women are in training to go for a record breaking ten babies.  “Well, I trained with the best birthing coaches and hoped to bring home the gold for popping out ten, but I never expected the woman on the Russian team would come through with a dozen, thought it was just tough talk.  You can bet I’ll be back in four years”

Usually the stories of multiple births involve a couple who desperately want a baby and after having tried for many years turn to fertility treatments.  The thing that makes this story different is the babies were born to a single mother who already had six kids, all between the ages of two and seven.  Why?

I’ve read several of the news articles and seen news reports and it isn’t clear whether or not the mother is able to physically or financially care for all these children or whether we the taxpayers are in for what I like to think of as the big baby bailout.

I know people that have had cosmetic surgery (nose jobs, boob jobs, etc.) and it is my understanding that a good cosmetic surgeon will ask questions about why the patient wants a particular procedure and if the answer is something other than to enhance my looks…for instance I think larger breasts will make my miserable meaningless life much better…an ethical cosmetic surgeon will refuse to do the surgery.  So I’m thinking an ethical fertility doctor faced with a single mother of six would refuse.

Fertility treatments are very expensive, I have no idea how the woman paid, but I’m guessing the doctor she chose was more interested in money than ethics.  The treatments often result in multiple births and high risk pregnancies.  The babies are usually born prematurely, and because of that are often disabled and have special needs.  Wouldn’t an ethical physician take this into consideration and at least recommend against putting a mother and future babies at risk when the goal isn’t to bring offspring to someone who is childless?  Should a doctor faced with such a patient be asking him/herself is it worth risking the life of this mother with the potential of leaving six (already living) children orphaned?  Should the doctor be wondering about the quality of care a large number of babies along with the other children would be able to receive?  I know how difficult it can be physically, emotionally, and financially to properly care for one or two children so if I were a medical professional in this field faced with this patient these are the questions I would be asking.

Dr. David Adamson, former president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said he was bracing for some backlash against his specialty.

In 30 years of practice, “I have never provided fertility treatment to a woman with six children,” or ever heard of a similar case, said Adamson, director of Fertility Physicians of Northern California.

Women seeking fertility treatment are routinely asked to give a detailed history of prior pregnancies and births, and “it’s a very realistic question to ask about someone who has six children: How does this fit into the concept of requiring fertility treatment?” Adamson said. more