<p>Sheesh!
"CANBERRA, Australia - An Australian woman who gave birth to twins instead of a single baby after receiving in-vitro fertilization has sued her doctor for the cost of bringing up the second child. </p>
<p>The woman, who cannot be identified because of a court order, is seeking more than 400,000 Australian dollars (US $332,000) to cover the expense of raising one child until age 21. </p>
<p>Testifying in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory on Tuesday, the 40-year-old mother said she told her doctor, Robert Armellin, that she only wanted one child. But an embryologist under the doctor’s supervision implanted two embryos in her uterus, resulting in the birth of non-identical twin girls. …"
<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20841486/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20841486/</a></p>
<p>Given the high failure rate of embryo transfer, it is not standard of care to transfer only one embryo. Generally 2-4 are transferred, with the hope that one survives. Obviously, there are lots of reports of multiples, and transfers now are more likely to be 2-3 and not the 4-6 of years past. But by the age of 40, transfering one egg only has a very low success rate.</p>
<p>However, if this women insisted that she would take the risk of failure, and signed consent for only one transfer, and the physician agreed, but then the embryologist included two because he didn’t know, was out of the loop, was not communicating effectively with the attending physician…she has a point, and maybe a case… (and if you knew me you would know how I feel about medical liability suits, with most frivolous or unfounded.)</p>
<p>I do think that she should be happy with the results, and she has no idea how many failed IVF patients/couples would die to be in her position… In some ways she seems “looey tunes” to be so negative about a positive outcome. I have two adopted daughters, and there are many women, myself included, who would have given anything to be in her shoes…</p>
<p>Wow. I have a 14-year-old IVF baby (and an 8-year-old surprise). I miscarried the first four IVF pregnancies. Her good fortune is, obviously, wasted on her. I wish those babies could have come, instead, to my dear friend, who conceived only once in multiple IVF attempts, and then miscarried, or to any of a number of women I still remember, who would have gladly had those babies.</p>
<p>I wonder how the daughters will feel when, years from now, they read about this?</p>
<p>This is really just a very sad story. These girls are going to grow knowing that one of them was so definitely not wanted that their mother actually sued the doctor over their mere existence.</p>
<p>Anyone with half a brain knows that during IVF a few fertilized eggs are implanted and therefore the chance of a multiple birth is going to be higher.</p>
<p>When I think of the couples out there desperate to have a successful IVF and would take twins, triplets, whatever… it just makes me sick.</p>
<p>What would she have done if she had conceived twins naturally. AND… if she had sex around her implantation time, how could she be sure that the “extra” baby wasn’t from that?</p>
<p>I agree with your sentiments, but I feel compelled to correct your last statement. It would not be possible to have an extra baby in the way you suggest. All mature ova are “harvested” for IVF (especially for an older woman, who would not be producing many), so there should not be any in the fallopian tubes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction. I thought that might be the case after it was too late to edit my post…</p>
<p>That said, what would this woman have done if only one egg had been implanted and it had split to become identical twins (or more) Also…If she had not used IVF and had had twins naturally - who would she sue then, God???</p>
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<p>How weird is that!!! What is distressing about purchasing a stroller??? Was it because she had to buy a double stroller. This woman and her partner need serious help. I can understand the distress from actually carrying a twin pregnancy - but BUYING a pram distressing?</p>
<p>Good point, jlauer. I actually know someone who became pregnant by IVF with triplets, and one embryo split very early into twins, giving her a quadruplet pregnancy for a short time (one embryo died early, one fetus was selectively reduced later because of anencephaly). She was overjoyed when she gave birth to healthy full-term twin daughters. I don’t remember that decorating the nursery loomed large in her joy, and I don’t remember any complaints about buying paraphenalia!</p>
Unfortunately the cat is already out of the bag on this. If they didn’t already know by that time, with the internet the kids could simply google their name 10 or 16 years from now and probably read the article and blog entries on it.</p>
<p>I agree. But I’d go further…if buying a pram is stressful for her, then image what caring for even ONE infant would do to her. I only had one child at a time, but there were many stressful days - colic, fevers, ear infections, etc. </p>
<p>sometimes I wonder what people like this think having children is all about… is it all about them???</p>
<p>Wow! We finally found an issue that all of us, from our multiple perspectives, agree on.</p>
<p>I second everything everyone else has said. I wonder which girl is the extra? (I mean this only in the most sardonic way, of course.) Which child would she give up?</p>
<p>I would also wish these babies on a more loving mother.</p>
<p>I was heartbroken when a friend had IVF and then aborted all three babies because it was three! And then she had one of her own naturally, so all is good for her in her mind.</p>
<p>Yes, raising triplets would be a daunting task, but I bet it would also have been fun. If you ask for babies and then come, it’s just so sad not to enjoy them.</p>
<p>I had the opposite scenario. No IVF, but a sonogram confirmed what I suspected, that I had miscarried, because an empty sac was present. But there was a surprise: another, healthy fetus who is now my wonderful son. People ask me if I regret not having the twin. Although I would have loved a third child, I think it would be gross and very ungrateful to not be thrilled with a pregnancy that yielded a healthy, beautiful child. (Or two or three, haha!)</p>
<p>" second everything everyone else has said. I wonder which girl is the extra? (I mean this only in the most sardonic way, of course.) Which child would she give up?"</p>
<p>I’d be happy to take the baby off her hands.</p>
<p>myth…>>> I suspected, that I had miscarried, because an empty sac was present. But there was a surprise: another, healthy fetus who is now my wonderful son. People ask me if I regret not having the twin. Although I would have loved a third child, I think it would be gross and very ungrateful to not be thrilled with a pregnancy that yielded a healthy, beautiful child. (Or two or three, haha!)<<<</p>
<p>I had a similar experience… I miscarried my first son’s twin (I didn’t know I was carrying twins so we thought the pregnancy was completely over). While I was disappointed to lose the one baby, (the bleeding was unbelievable) but my heart leapt when the doctor found the other baby… Thankfully, the doctor checked before just doing a routine D & C.</p>
<p>My son sometimes voices his wish that his twin had lived… that is a bit sad for him.</p>
<p>lspf… you are so right. There are so many empty cribs out there (purchased in hope of filling it one day.) I was lucky not to have to wait toooo long. But, I do remember how disappointed I was each month when we were trying to get pregnant and it didn’t happen right away (like it seemed to be happening to everyone around us).</p>