Fourteen Is Enough Already!

Going through the news over the last couple of days, I couldn't help but notice the stories in every media outlet of the successful birth of Octuplets in California. To me, there are two amazing parts to this story:




First, it appears that this woman has already had six children and was still choosing to go through fertility treatments. I would have thought that after giving birth to six, that one would begin to think about slowing down the reproductive process, if not stopping it all together.  

Second, having already crossed a line that not many would in seeking fertility treatments after six children, this woman has not one, but EIGHT embryos implanted and brings them all to term. Listen, I love kids as much as the next guy (or so I would suppose), but in a situation like this, I have to say that I have a couple of questions on this one. I would have to question the sanity of the potential parents. 

Even if you thought that half of the implanted embyos wouldn't make it, what would possess you to go from six to ten children, let alone fourteen? I would likewise question the ethics and the good sense of the medical practitioner in this case. What would possess this practitioner to do fertility treatments to a mother of six? What would possess you to implant eight embryos when common practice in situations of implantation calls for no more than four? 

And while we're at it, who paid for the miracle of all of this modern medical technology? What insurance company in it's right mind would include compensation for any part of this type of fertility treatment? How would a doctor performing such over the top levels of fetal implantation get on any insurance company's approved list. (Please don't even tell me that any part of this is going to be paid for by the California taxpayer, I'm not sure that I'm strong enough to hear it.)  

Forgive me for being judgmental. It sometimes seems however, as if there is a more detailed examination of a patient's stability and state of mind for a breast augmentation procedure or sexual reassignment surgery than there is for fertility treatments. 

Why is it that doctors would be more concerned about the mental health of a person choosing to change their own bodies, than it would be for a person bringing new life into the world along with its long term commensurate responsibilities? When does our ability to do a thing medically exceed our common sense about the ethics of proceeding with it? When is it time to consider not only whether we can do a thing, but whether we should?

OK, so it turns out that that I had a lot more than a couple of questions on the subject ... so shoot me.