i think you are right to a certain extent. we have to be careful that we don't judge situations that we are really uninformed about. not that i agree with this situation, not that i want children brought into this world on a whim. it's a tough call. do i think the woman was wrong. probably.

Well said. I don't think I want a placenta smoothie. No matter how hungry I get.

When my wife and I were going through fertility treatments, I said to our doctor, "I don't want to end up on the 'Today' show with multiple kids."

She said, "We consider anything more than twins to be an unsuccessful treatment."

I concur.

Single birth, both times, vasectomy, the end.

Litters of 6 and 8? INSANE under the best of circumstances, which this clearly isn't. Glad I only have to watch from a distance.

Yes. Yes, yes yes. Sad and unfortunate and unethical on the part of the doctor? Absolutely. Representative of women seeking fertility treatments? Not on your life. Thank you, Heather, for sharing your perspective.

Quite frankly, the woman disgusts me. Sure, I don't know her. But what person brings eight more lives in to the world when she already has a hard time taking care of the six (3 of which are DISABLED) children she already has. And now their house might be taken away. What? She's begging for tv show deals and looking at million dollar homes. No thank you. I put all the blame on the doctor.

I think the doctor should be investigated....

I'm amazed at the stupidity and irresponsibility of the doctor. When a friend of mine had invitro, they implanted only 3 eggs. The most she could have had (unless the eggs divided) would have been triplets. Luckily for her, she had a single baby. But implanting 6 (I think that was the number and then 2 divided) into a woman who already had 6 kids that she wasn't able to afford to raise is incredibly irresponsible. But then again, should the doctor have to do background checks and research? I don't know the answer here, I'm just rambling.

I don't think there should be an invitro backlash, but I do think that there's been concern for several years about putting too many eggs "in". This is what happened to Jon & Kate Plus Eight, as well as many of the other multiple births that have made the news. It causes a lot of problems for the poor underweight premature babies, as well as high risk for the mothers. Not a good idea.

Where is Solomon? We could all use his wisdom in a case such as this!

My main issue is with the doctor/s who allowed this treatment to go ahead. It might be a wild suggestion, but how about doing some background checks and psychological screening for a woman who shows up at your office asking for 8 embryos to be implanted. I think anyone who wants fertility treatment should be questioned about the size of their families, previous pregnancies, etc etc. Don't the doctors need that kind of background information before they can do such a big procedure? If you want to adopt a child you're subjected to the third degree, shouldn't it be the case with this as well? Actually I thought taking a background history was a part of all medical procedures...

I guess the problem is that people might start saying that doctors don't have the right to decide who deserves to have children. But I do think there's a huge difference between most sane individuals who want IVF and this case. From the limited press I've seen about this issue, the woman does seem to be a little... not right. You wanted a big family? Six kids IS a big family.

Also I'm a little confused how she could actually afford the treatment if she's living at home with her mother?

Did she say how she afforded the procedure? I think I might have missed that. And the plastic surgery. Where did all this money come from? Should've been put towards her six children she already had.

I have two beautiful children born to other women, and I wouldn't change anything - even the fact that my husband and I used reproductive technology. Even though it didn't work. The clinic we used had a policy (imagine that!) and no more than two or three embryos (depending on their rating) were transferred back after fertilization. It's not the intent of IVF to have a women deliver a litter - this is the result of a bad doctor.

I think it is WONDERFUL that you're opening this up to comments. However, I do hate to tell you that I'm going to be completely boring and...agree with you. I feel that this situation is completely sad, primarily because those 14 children will have to deal with an unrealistic amount of public scrutiny because of a seemingly unstable woman.

I also feel the doctor has a great deal of explaining to do. A doctor should continually make decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. Clearly, it was unsafe to purposely implant so many embryos.

I STRONGLY feel that any man and woman should have the right to explore all of their options when it comes to expanding their family. My husband and I had some slight issues that were (fortunately) quickly resolved with a change in medicine. However, some couples must find options that are more intense and sometimes invasive. No matter what, that is the woman or couple's choice.

People's reproductive rights should NOT be messed with. That said, fertility treatments shouldn't be given out like candy. This woman was clearly plenty fertile all on her own. Why was no screening process conducted?

I think people have the right to fertility treatments, but they also have the right to have them done ethically and properly.

I think that this woman is not only irresponsible, she is in need of mental help (cuckoo for cocoa puffs!)
She is incredibly insensitive to those who need help conceiving. Many of those women never do conceive, and while that is not "Octo Mom"s fault she is a fertile babies-mixed- in-a-lab receiving machine, it sure is a slap in the face to those who are never successful.
The doctor who is responsible for those 14 babies (I read all/almost all were conceived through fertility treatments from the same doc) is unethical and should have his license taken away. A woman with 6 kids doesn't need a greater than average amount of embryos put in her! She needs to get a job to feed the first 6!
All I can do is hope these children grow up without any lasting harm done and that they make better decisions then their mother.

Have you seen the photos of Suleman's parents' home? Before they added 8 more babies? wtf, indeed.