My thoughs on the mother of octuplets

First of all I must relieve all fears that I will end up with octuplets. This won't happen and my doctors wouldn't allow it even if I was crazy enough to do it. All doctors that I have researced in MN, WI, IA and Canada will only put a maximum of 3 embryos in at a time. I am curious to know what kind of opperation they are running in Cali. I have heard that they placed 6 embryos in this women and that she demanded that they did despite warning her of the risks involved. Then I would assume that two of the embryos split to become twins (this is very rare). Either way I think that this woman was very selfish in making this decision. It is extremely rare that these children survived at all, and it will be amazing if they grow without medical conditions. The health risks alone are insurmountable let alone the mothers potential inability to care for 14 children as a single mother. I also wonder if they complete psych evaluations in cali. Every invitro program that I researched required a psych evaluation prior to the proceedure. I question if she had this done at all and if so how she passed. Above all I think she gives the infertility community a bad reputation. I feel for John and Kate, reproductive endocrinologists and the entire infertility community. This case definetely does not support best practices. In fact most high order multiples (more than 3) occur with artificial insemination not with invitro. I wish some infertility expert would set the record straight in the media as to why this should have never happened. I was listening to talk radio the other day and a woman called in with some strong opinions about invitro fertilization. I didn't get to call in to say my peace so here is my response to what she said.

"I think that people who do invitro should only be allowed to put in 1 embryo and if it doesn't work that is too bad"

My response: placing only 1 embryo can greatly decrease the sucess rates. Doctors generally determine the number of embryos to inplant based on quality of the embryos and the age of the mother. Placing 2 or 3 embryos is the most economical and safe way with proven positive results.

"I bet that doctors make more money for implanting more embryos"

My response: So wrong honey! Actually doctors generally charge per invitro proceedure regardless of the number of embryos implanted. There for if you only put in 1 embryo at a time and it took more proceedures to reach pregnancy than it would cost the patient more. Also doctors often judge and compare practices by high pregnancy rates in addition to low rates of multiples. Doctors do not want high order multiples (more than 3) as this reflects poorly on their practice.