Title: In Vitro Fertilization
Date: 2/23/09
Area of Impact: Health
Word Count: 975
Criterion A
The social issue is that women are going to unhealthy circumstances to have a child. Nadya Suleman is divorced and has six children at home and has undergone fertility treatments. She currently has 14 children. She's an unemployed, divorced single mother who lives off welfare and is now mother to fourteen children. There is no complete house hold it's just her and her children. There is no father figure in the children's life which could hurt them in the future from not having a whole family. She cannot afford to take care of all her children so the money would be coming from angered taxpayers. She knows she can't afford to take care of 6 kids, yet she goes looking to have more kids. The doctor asked the mother if she would like to reduce the number of embryos, but she refused. The ethical issue is that the doctor implanted so many embryos knowing the major health risks such as bleeding in the brain, intestinal problems, and lifelong disabilities could occur. The doctor was being unethical when he made the careless decision
Criterion B
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends medical guidelines for in vitro fertilization. These guidelines indicate that women under the age of thirty-five should only be implanted with up to two embryos. These guidelines cannot be legally enforced; however, most fertility doctors follow them when dealing with their patients. Nadya Suleman was implanted with six embryos, where two of the embryos split into twins. She was also previously impregnated through in vitro fertilization for her previous six children. These facts have led to an investigation by the California Medical Board to determine whether there was a violation of the standard of care by the fertility doctor who implanted Nadya Suleman. The 2008 guidelines recommend only implanting a single embryo and having several implantations as opposed to multiple embryos implanted. However, women who are desperate to get pregnant plead with doctors to implant several embryos regardless of the medical guidelines to increase their chances. But when stories like that of Nadya Suleman result, it seems like there should be a law to the amount of embryos that can be implanted. When several embryos get implanted, the result is increased chances of pregnancy but also increased chances of multiple fetuses. When there are multiple fetuses, higher health risks result for both the mother and child. In spite of how desperate a woman may be to get pregnant, the health of both mother and child should be considered. The trends and developments of using in vitro is that more women are putting their desires in front of being reasonable. Some women would risk the chance of having multiple embryos implanted in them and the health risks to have give birth to a child of there on instead of considering adoption.
Date: 2/23/09
Area of Impact: Health
Word Count: 975
Criterion A
The social issue is that women are going to unhealthy circumstances to have a child. Nadya Suleman is divorced and has six children at home and has undergone fertility treatments. She currently has 14 children. She's an unemployed, divorced single mother who lives off welfare and is now mother to fourteen children. There is no complete house hold it's just her and her children. There is no father figure in the children's life which could hurt them in the future from not having a whole family. She cannot afford to take care of all her children so the money would be coming from angered taxpayers. She knows she can't afford to take care of 6 kids, yet she goes looking to have more kids. The doctor asked the mother if she would like to reduce the number of embryos, but she refused. The ethical issue is that the doctor implanted so many embryos knowing the major health risks such as bleeding in the brain, intestinal problems, and lifelong disabilities could occur. The doctor was being unethical when he made the careless decision
Criterion B
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends medical guidelines for in vitro fertilization. These guidelines indicate that women under the age of thirty-five should only be implanted with up to two embryos. These guidelines cannot be legally enforced; however, most fertility doctors follow them when dealing with their patients. Nadya Suleman was implanted with six embryos, where two of the embryos split into twins. She was also previously impregnated through in vitro fertilization for her previous six children. These facts have led to an investigation by the California Medical Board to determine whether there was a violation of the standard of care by the fertility doctor who implanted Nadya Suleman. The 2008 guidelines recommend only implanting a single embryo and having several implantations as opposed to multiple embryos implanted. However, women who are desperate to get pregnant plead with doctors to implant several embryos regardless of the medical guidelines to increase their chances. But when stories like that of Nadya Suleman result, it seems like there should be a law to the amount of embryos that can be implanted. When several embryos get implanted, the result is increased chances of pregnancy but also increased chances of multiple fetuses. When there are multiple fetuses, higher health risks result for both the mother and child. In spite of how desperate a woman may be to get pregnant, the health of both mother and child should be considered. The trends and developments of using in vitro is that more women are putting their desires in front of being reasonable. Some women would risk the chance of having multiple embryos implanted in them and the health risks to have give birth to a child of there on instead of considering adoption.
