Octuplets’ Fertility Doctor Strikes Again!

The fertility doctor who is responsible for the birth of eight babies to a jobless single mother who already had six kids is in the news again.

The LA Times and KTTV Fox 11 are reporting that shortly after Nadya Suleman became pregnant with octuplets, her fertility doctor, Dr. Michael Kamrava, helped another mother get pregnant. She wanted one baby. But she’s now five months along with quadruplets.

The mom-to-be’s name has not been released, but here are the stunning details on her: she’s 49-year-old. She has no health insurance.

As with Suleman, Kamrava transferred eight embryos in treating this woman, who was recently hospitalised at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she is on bed rest for the next two or three months.

From the LA Times:

The California Medical Board has said it is looking into the octuplets’ case to determine whether a doctor may have violated any standards of care.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which has guidelines limiting the number of embryos that can be transferred depending on the woman’s age and other circumstances, said it is also
examining the doctor’s practice. No laws govern this issue.

The guidelines apparently allow for the transfer of more embryos in the cases of much older women, which certainly raises some questions in the case of Suleman. However, the fact that this quads mom used eggs donated from a woman in her 20s means that the risk of carrying multiples was high.

Again, the Times:

“I do think it is concerning, and dangerous, especially to the mother. She is close to 50. When women get to be that age, our fear is the cardiovascular complications, such as stroke or heart attack. That’s how serious this is,” said Dr. John Jain, a fertility specialist with knowledge of the case.

The woman, an apartment manager, asks to be left in privacy and says her circumstances are different from Suleman’s. She has three children from a previous marriage and her husband, a contractor in his 30s, has none.

A woman answering the phone at Kamrava’s West Coast IVF clinic had this to say about the quads:

“If [a] mother wants to bring four kids, so what?”

So what?