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Family Circus–Take The Doctor’s License
Often with my busy schedule, I’m a few days learning the news and when I do get a chance to read the newspaper, I just scan the headlines. One headline that caught my eye yesterday was the story of the mother, Nadya Suleman, 33, who recently had eight babies and the scrutiny of the fertility doctor who helped her achieve these new brothers and sisters to her already existing six children.
While I have nothing against large families, especially since I come from a family of five and I have five children myself, I am disturbed about all the details in this woman’s story as I know the difficulties involved in raising almost a third of her clan. Not to mention, the Octuplet Mom’s doctor didn’t follow the recommendations from The American Society for Reproductive Medicine that states “a woman under the age of 35 should have no more than two embryos implanted by way of in vitro fertilization (IVF).” Now I’m no doctor, but most doctors must know the medical history of their patients and I’m sure that her infertility doctor knew her situation and about previous six births. This fertility doctor implanted not two, but eight fertile embryos in Suleman.
I’m wondering how the doctor was paid as a typical IVF costs $10,000 and up and Suleman was unemployed at the time with six kids living at home. According to all the media reports, she’s not looking for marriage and even if she was, I’m sure a single parent of 14 kids will have a high-level of difficulty to find a suitable suitor. The first six are under the age of eight so by the time they all reach college age, according to the “cost of raising a child calculator” at the babycenter.com, will average $7,568 dollars without college per year to raise. That’s over $60,000 for the last eight kids alone, per year! I’m sure it’s safe to say, for the first six children it will cost at least $40,000 per year for a total of $100,000 and we haven’t even included a college fund savings.
The Octuplet mother lives with her Mom and Dad in a “modest Southern California house.” It’s rumored her Dad, a native from Iraq, is headed to Iraq to avoid the diapers and the Octuplet’s Mother told the New York Daily News she’d be gone before the new grandkids arrive. Obviously a dysfunctional family as Suleman herself confirmed in a television interview where she said “that she wanted lots of children because she had grown up an only child in a dysfunctional family.”
It appears that Suleman is to profit from her choice to be a mother of 14 kids practically overnight. She’s hired a public relations agent and a publicist to help her with a book and movie deal along with television offers. One of them, Joann Killeen, president of the Killeen Furtney Group stated on a “Larry King Live” interview on Feb. 3, that Suleman is a “wonderful woman.” “She’s smart, she’s bright, she’s articulate, she’s well educated. She is just a delight. And I can’t wait for the media to get to meet her,” Killeen said. “She’s a very balanced woman. She’s got perspective. She really wants to tell her story.”
According to Advertising Age, Suleman is hoping for a “$2 million deal for the first photo opportunity” and Advertising Age also reports that Suleman is “hoping for appearances on Oprah.” Oprah is known for helping out these large, instant fertility families but hopefully Oprah will not bring her on the show as this could encourage others to have large families so they can become overnight millionaires sending the wrong message.
Of all the reports I’ve read on this 14-brood family my favorite comes from the Advertising Age article where they state, “As one Gawker commenter noted, “People can be convicted of animal cruelty for having 14 pets in their home and inadequate resources with which to take care of them.”
I have to agree. First I blame the doctor. How can a doctor allow a single, young, unemployed girl, living with her parents, already with six kids under the age of eight years, have eight more kids? Not just eight kids, but premature babies with high risks for serious medical problems. It’s absurd and I dare you, double dare you to chime in with your thoughts. Thanks, rg sends!
