The Octuplets’ conception: was it unethical?

In an article on msnbc.com, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine questioned the actions of Dr. Michael Kamrava. The organization is investigating the procedure that Dr. Kamrava completed on Suleman. The organization has guidelines for the number of embryos that should be placed in a woman. However, if a doctor is found to have violated the guidelines, the organization cannot stop the doctor from practicing.

Suleman’s first pregnancy was from that of in vitro fertilization where she gave birth to 6 children. I feel as though you can’t say that it was wrong for her to get in vitro a second time because she was a single mother with 6 other kids. However, I do believe that the guidelines that were created by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine should be followed. If doctors do not follow the guidelines of two to three embryos, then they should lose their license. If we left it up to doctor to decide what the correct number of embryos to implant were we would have doctors doing whatever they wanted.

In Suleman’s case, I believe that not only is the doctor to blame but Suleman herself. Instead of Suleman having a million children to make up for her “terrible childhood”, she should have gone to see a psychologist. Just as an ethical plastic surgeon would send a patient who has body dysmorphia to a psychologist, Dr. Kamrava should have sent Suleman to a psychologist. Now all of us are stuck supporting her kids because she had a “terrible childhood”. We all have bad things that happen to us during our life time. It’s LIFE; no one said it was easy.