Health News
US octuplet mother refused to have fewer babies
Jan 30, 2009, 5:18 GMT
Los Angeles - The mother of octuplets born earlier this week in California had refused to abort some the foetuses, her doctors said.
Despite the unexpected number of children, the woman refused to undergo a so-called reduction and decided to have all eight babies, the Los Angeles Times quoted doctors as saying in its Friday edition.
The woman, whose identity is still kept secret, was offered a selective abortion, Dr Harold Henry at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Centre said. The woman had consulted the doctors in her 12th week of pregnancy.
The six boys and two girls were delivered within five minutes of each other by caesarean section Monday morning. The delivery surprised doctors who had been expecting 'only' seven babies.
Two of the newborns who had initially been put on ventilators, were now breathing on their own.
On Wednesday, the mother could see her babies for the first time in their incubators at the intensive care ward. According to People magazine, she was not allowed to hold her babies yet, but watched them sleeping.
The babies weighed in at between 880 grams and 1.47 kilograms each. All eight will spend about two months in an incubator, the hospital said, but the mother, who plans to breastfeed all her children, will be able to leave hospital in one week.
US television channel CBS reported that the woman already has six other children. An acquaintance, who asked to remain anonymous, said the octuplet's mother already had four sons and two daughters.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
wacko woman - no job, no money, no house, no husband and no brains.
so, who authorized this woman's fertility treatment?? why would a doctor give a fertility treatment to a mother of six?? sometimes i agree with bill; we're a virus with shoes.
I'm sure the pregnancy and all related health care expenses are being paid for by the state, which is currently $42 Billion dollars in the debt. That said, the hospital will be forced to eat most of the cost because in these cases, Medicaid pays a very low flat rate, and nothing more. The neonatal care alone for each baby will run somewhere in the neighborhood of $800,000 to $1,000,000.
The State Health Department along with Child Protective Services should investigate this woman. Along with her parents, there will now be 17 people living in a modest three bedroom home. And child care experts say the minimum cost of raising that many children is in excess of $2 million.
I guess its none of our business unless the working people have to pay for it but why would she want to take fertility stuff if she already had 6 children.
Maybe this doctor didn't know she already had 6 kids unless he is wacked. Also where did the money come from to pay for the fertility stuff especially since they just filed bankruptcy (if that is true).
This is a mystery. It's mind blowing. This world never cease to surprise and make wonder.
Isn't this the same hospital where the guy who killed his five children, wife and himself used to work before he and his wife were fired? The behavior of the individuals involved in this hospital's management is touching lawlesness.
Noooo...she didn't do it for the money!! Right. Please, any responsible journalists out there, Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, etc; ignore this insane greedy individual. The more attention she gets, the better it seems for all of us to go out and do something so completely unethical, just to turn a buck. At the expense of innocent children no less.
Truly, where is child protective services? She couldn't afford her first 6, no job, living on the public, so let's get 8 more added to the mix. Where is the responsibility here? She obviously doesn't have any common sense and her parents are totally clueless. Take these babies before they become abused and unloved money makers for 'mommy dearest'.
Well, after seeing that Jon and Kate who have given nothing to the world other then spawning six children at one time have now obtained a 1.3 million dollar estate in PA and a ski condo in Utah on top of fabulous vacations and plastic surgeries galore, do you blame this woman who had little money for trying to get in on some of that pie? I wonder how many more litters are soon to follow? Don't be surprised at the next high ordered multiple birth being announced on the news. Gee, if I'd known taking fertility drugs to the point of hyperstimulating my ovaries and then going forward with sex to produce six or more children would make me wildly wealthy and sought after for church talks at at minimum of $25,000 a pop, donations of designer clothes from Gap, Gymboree, Ann Taylor and so on and on and on, hell, I'd do it too.
Yeah, Jon and Kate Gosselin, role models for living life free and easy!
page: 1
mike huntJan 30th, 2009 - 06:23:35
What a selfish breeder.Those kids are doomed to poverty and my Govt. sponsored handouts.This woman is unmarried and lives with her parents.I'm betting she is also unemployed and without health insurance.
Do us all a favor and tie her tubes before she has a chance to breed again.
Pathetic.
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