6 June 2011
The Medical Board of California ruled that the fertility doctor who transferred 12 embryos into Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman (who gave birth to octuplets in California in January 2009 earning her the nickname ‘octomum’) should have his medical licence revoked from 1 July 2011.
The US fertility doctor transferred six times the recommended number of embryos for a woman of Ms Suleman’s age, putting her and the babies at risk of serious medical complications and death. The Medical Board of California said that the step was necessary to protect the public and that probation and monitoring would not be sufficient. The panel held that the fertility doctor “did not exercise sound judgment” and rejected arguments that the publicity surrounding the case would deter him from transferring excessive numbers of embryos to others in future saying “the board is not persuaded that relying on the public or the media to fulfil or supplement the board’s public protection role is a sound policy”.
The ‘octomum’ case attracted international headlines and sent shock waves through the US assisted reproduction community, causing concern that best practice and confidence in assisted reproductive technologies in the US had been undermined and called into question. Ms Suleman underwent IVF treatment, using her own eggs and donor sperm, and gave birth to six boys and two girls by Caesarean section. The babies are only the second full set of octuplets to be born alive in the US, having survived more than a week.
Unlike in the US, strict UK wide fertility laws and regulation by the government watchdog, the HFEA, rigorously oversee and monitor UK licensed fertility clinics and fertility treatment and prevent such high order of multiple birth (being three or more offspring in one birth). The HFEA’s introduction of the single embryo transfer policy in 2007 has also done much to reduce the multiple birth rate figure in the UK, which is considered to be the greatest fertility treatment risk for expectant mothers and their babies.
Need an expert fertility lawyer? If you would like to discuss your family building needs or you would like specialist fertility, surrogacy and family law advice and representation contact Louisa Ghevaert by email louisa@louisaghevaertassociates.co.uk or by telephone +44 (0)20 7965 8399.
