Is it ethical to use fertility treatment when the mother already has six children?
How in the world does a woman with six children get a fertility doctor to help her have more _ eight more?
An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.
Large multiple births “are presented on TV shows as a `Brady Bunch’ moment. They’re not,” fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.
So I don’t use this solely to leapfrog to my concern, I’ll say no, it’s not ethical, although I won’t go so far as to say it should be prohibited. But if the facts are as they’re being speculated in the media, the doctor who administered these fertility treatments acted unethically.
Okay, so to jump to my question. We’re talking about whether this is ethical, but not enough people would realize the ethical dilemma this presents for the law. This woman can legally alter the genitals of six of her newborns, for whatever reason or no reason, while her other two newborns are legally protected from unnecessary genital surgery. The general consensus in the American medical and legal community is that this is ethical. No one should be surprised that a ridiculous case of fertility treatment for a woman with six kids can occur.