In concept I am a big believer in giving people freedom to live their lives and do what they are going to do with the caveat that the limits are drawn when their actions hurt others. Nadya Suleman and the doctor who helped her have crossed the line.
They have abdicated moral and parental responsibility with little to no regard for the impact of their actions. Their actions are selfish and misguided and it infuriates me that the public is going to be forced to help support the moronic decisions made by all of the parties here.
The LA Times has a number of articles that document the sad state of affairs of a mother who has 14 children, no source of income and owes $50,000 in student loans. Oh and did I mention that she is already receiving money from food stamps and that three of her children are disabled.
This makes me want to tear my hair out. This article outlines a number of serious issues and her complete lack of touch with reality. I believe in social responsibility. I believe that we have an obligation to try and give people a hand up, not a hand out. But apparently she feels otherwise. We'll get to that in a moment.
"Even before she gave birth to the octuplets Jan. 26, Suleman was receiving $490 in monthly food stamps, and three of her children were receiving federal supplemental security income because they are disabled.
Let's review because it really does blow me away. She is an unemployed single mother of six children who is receiving almost $500 a month in food stamps and additional money from the federal government for the disabled children goes t o a doctor and undergoes IVF and then delivers eight more children.
Eight more children. Eight more children who will be in the hospital somewhere between seven to twelve weeks. According to the Times that bill will run on the low end at about $500k and could approach more than $800k, provided that there aren't any complications.
And that doesn't take into account the team of more than 46 medical professionals who were assembled for the delivery. But none of this matters to Suleman. She engages in some sort of mental masturbation that allows her to try and say that she is not really receiving any sort of assistance.
"I'm not living off any taxpayer money," she said. "If I am, if it's food stamps, it's a temporary resource. And I was so reluctant. I very much so look forward to the day when I am not getting any kind of help with food stamps, which I believe will end when I graduate in about a year or year and a half."
Oh ok, you're going to collect somewhere around nine grand in food stamps, not to mention however much you receive for the disabled children. And during that time what sort of activities will you be engaged in. Are we to believe that you are going to work so that you can support your children and so that you might pay into the system. Doesn't sound like it.
Some people might say that I am being too harsh, but this was elective. She didn't have to have more children. She had six and don't forget that some are disabled. Six healthy children are a lot of work, but when some of them are disabled there is more to be done. And now she has increased the load ten fold.
But we shouldn't worry because in lollipop land everything works out.
Suleman also bristled at suggestions made by some commentators that she was being irresponsible for having so many children with no income or partner to help raise them."No. I am not being selfish. . . . If I were just sitting down watching TV and not being as determined as I am to succeed and provide a better future for my children, I believe that would be considered to a certain degree selfish," she said.
Great. She is determined to succeed and by gum that makes all the difference. I believe in having a "can do" attitude and that it makes a difference, but again there are limits. She doesn't have the financial resources to take care of these children there are legitimate questions about whether she'll have the time. Fourteen young children, eight of whom are infants. It is just wrong.
But never fear, she has a website that she is using to ask for donations.
And lest we think that I have forgotten about the doctor and clinic let's shed some light on these mental midgets.
According to records reviewed by the Times
The Beverly Hills doctor whose fertility treatment led to the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets – and her six previous children – has one of the worst success rates of any fertility clinic in the country, according to federal records reviewed by The Times.
In fact, Suleman’s children represent a sizable portion of the pregnancy rate at his clinic over the last several years
The Times used data from 2006. Out of 61 procedures only five resulted in pregnancies and only two of those resulted in births. So we have a mother whose completely out of touch with reality and a doctor who is seemingly inept with everyone but her.
Even better the good doctor has been involved in a number of lawsuits with past employees.
It is a perfect storm of chaos and we're the lucky people who get to pick up the pieces. Just peachy.
2 comments:
I know someone, somewhere will disagree, but a single woman with six children should never have been having fertility treatments/IVF, etc. And the idea that she, knowing herself and probably being well aware that she was unlikely to abort any successful fetuses, was implanted with eight embryos makes me just plain angry - at her and the doctor. Two would have been irresponsible. Eight was beyond wrong.
I have a friend who had ten children. She was married, her husband earned a pile of money, and she spaced them out so that the older ones have been old enough to help with the younger. Those kids still didn't get enough time, attention or care. Babies are not kittens - they don't become self-sufficient in six weeks. So no-one should be deliberately putting themselves in a situation where they may drop a whole litter of them all at once. I feel like this irresponsible woman deserves no assistance at all, but in the end I can't even say that should be so, because her children don't deserve to suffer for her stupidity. They will suffer for it, but they don't deserve to also starve for it. It's just sad.
I have a perspective not many people have. I am so beyond words with regards to this subject. having undergone strict testing - both psychological and otherwise, as a part of my IVF process, I can't see how ANY physician would help her. How she paid for the procedure and the drugs is another big question I have. Angers and pains me.
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