Word: suleman
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...Nadya Suleman, 33, became pregnant with octuplets is the subject of rampant speculation. Her mother has indicated that the preemies are the result of IVF treatment, a confounding thought from both a parent's perspective--Suleman already has six children under the age of 8--and a physician's. In June, just about the time those eight babies began growing inside her womb, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) issued updated guidelines on the number of embryos that should be transferred to a woman's body in the hope they'll implant in the uterus and lead...
These are guidelines, however, not laws. And until Suleman discloses how the octuplets came to be (via fertility drugs? IVF? embryos splitting into multiples in utero?), the mere possibility of a doctor's transferring a large number of embryos to a relatively young patient--an unmarried mom raising four singletons and a set of twins--has put fertility specialists on the defensive as they try to counter the perception that theirs is an undisciplined, irresponsible profession. "The word cowboys comes to mind," says Robert Stillman, medical director at Shady Grove Fertility Center in Rockville, Md., the country's largest fertility...
Some fertility specialists worry that Suleman's octuplets--only the second set in U.S. history--will lead to calls for a system like the one in England, where reproductive medicine is overseen by a government agency that can revoke a doctor's license or close a clinic and sets age limits for fertility treatments. "Would we write laws limiting the size of someone's family to six?" asks Richard Paulson, director of the fertility program at the University of Southern California. "Would we write laws mandating selective reduction?" he asks, referring to the option of aborting some embryos...
...occur. Multiple births can also create potential long-term health implications for the children, like cerebral palsy. In the short term, in many multiple-birth situations, newborns are at greater risk of birth complications and death, though notably, all eight of the kids born to "Octomom" Nadya Suleman earlier this year survived...
...clearly, the chances of naturally conceiving eight children at once are well-nigh impossible. And the facts of Suleman's conception - she had six embryos implanted in her womb, two of which split into twins - are troubling. Medical guidelines limit the practice to one or two implanted embryos at most. A fertility expert quoted in the Los Angeles Times noted that octuplets are "unbelievably rare. When people use fertility drugs, 80% even then are single births. The vast majority of the others are twins." By that token, Suleman, who is entertaining offers of a reality show and has reportedly fired...