The "Octomom" doctor, Michael Kamrava, is finally feeling some repercussions for his actions when he transferred six embryos in Nadya Suleman last year. A medical committee recently made the decision to expel Kamrava from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The transfer of six embryos into a woman of Suleman's age exceeds the guidelines put out from the ASRM and is the reason given for Kamrava's expulsion.
A recent article from USA Today reports that Suleman, who had six children before she became pregnant with the latest eight, has stated publicly that Kamrava transferred six embryos to her uterus for all of her previous pregnancies. This means that Kamrava failed to follow the guidelines each time he performed this procedure on Suleman.
The guidelines state that fertility doctors should only transfer one or two embryos into women who are under the age of 35. After looking into Kamrava's past record it has been reported that he was transferring more than four embryos to all women he treated under the age of 35 on average.
Though expulsion from the ASRM is nothing a fertility specialist would wish for, it does not mean that Kamrava has to stop practicing medicine. Medical boards are the only types of groups authorized to revoke a doctor's license and so far this has not happened to Kamrava. The downside for Kamrava is that some insurance plans will not cover treatment cost for patients of doctors who are not in the ASRM.
What do you think of the decision the ASRM made to expel the "Octomom" doctor?
Do you think this was an appropriate disciplinary action to take against this doctor?
yes definatley not to mention she should not have been worked on due to her clear instability and use of the babies to fulfill herself. I think like plastic surgery the doctor is supposed to evaluate the patient and see if they are doing it for good reasons and are able to handle it. With 6 kids already at home and no job i think she was an obvious risk. Bad doctor!
likeinabook::
on Oct 20, 2009
Good. I hope he loses a lot of business.
junconventional::
on Oct 20, 2009
Well, not discounting the bad judgement on the doctor's part. You used the term "guidelines" and not that it was a hard fast rule, I don't know how the could expel him. With the amount of multiple births in this country, it's clear that he is not the only fertility doctor that has implanted more than 2 eggs.
purplerosecharm::
on Oct 20, 2009
It's a good lesson to the doctor and likely the others would learn something from this too. It's more a question of ethics than any guideline or rule. A woman with 6 kids at home, no job, depended on social welfare and her mother, it's obviously that the doctor should not do that.
msfriendly::
on Oct 20, 2009
I think that this was a good decision. All doctors should use this as a case in point and they should use ethical practices.
DigitalDiva::
on Oct 21, 2009
In my opinion, the doctor should not have transferred any embryos into her at all! She was not working and she already had six children at home, and depending on her mother and public assistance to support her family...
picturemommy::
on Oct 23, 2009
well it's about time that the medical community stoo9d up to their "own" and did something about such shameless disregard for life! I have NO problem with fertility and the like, but if the guidlines state what should be done, then he should have "played by the rules". Pity though that this quack can still practice medicine.
bbred57::
on Oct 24, 2009
I think this is a start and I think now the medical board should go after his license and stop him from practicing medicine. Evidently he isn't taking the health and wealthfare of his patients medical and mental conditions into consideration when he implants all of these embryo's. And not only the women but what about the children that are being born into these situations. He should be liable for what he is doing to these children.
October::
on Oct 25, 2009
Sounds to me like he is not taking his responsibility as a doctor seriously.
