Cleveland university faculty speak out about octuplet doctor

The hotly debated story of the latest infamous octuplets mother, Nadya Suleman, of Whittier, Calif., is now a little closer to Ohio. The Associated Press revealed this week that the doctor who implanted Suleman's eight embryos at once, Michael Kamrava, received his degree in medicine from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A professor of biomedical ethics and law at Case Western, Jessica Berg said the school cannot be held responsible for all its graduates.

"For whatever reason the doctor chose to transfer those eight embryos, not Case Western," said Berg, who also serves as the associate director for the school's Law-Medicine Center. Dr. Kamrava is now being investigated by the The California Medical Board and could have his physician's license revoked if charged with wrongdoing, according to the Whittier Daily News.

He was responsible for helping Suleman conceive all 14 of her children, including the eight born on Jan. 26 by in-vitro fertilization.

"This was a total failure of medicine and lack of providing the best care," Berg said. Dr. Steve Williams, a reproductive endocrinologist at Ohio Reproductive Medicine (ORM), central Ohio's largest provider of assisted reproductive technology, said he is puzzled as to how Dr. Kamrava could transfer that many embryos. "It's so weird since in-vitro fertilization normally gives protection against multiples and mainly does one or two," he said.

The professional guidelines from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine dictate that only two embryos should be transferred for mothers under the age of 35. "The doctor was clearly outside the standards of practice," said Williams, who is also a clinical associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State. But he also said the embryos belonged to Suleman, and she had the right to do what she wanted with them.

"Suleman's request was just unusual. I get over 25 eggs from women on many days and none of them ever ask for eight to be implanted," Williams said.

Another ORM physician, Beth Kennard, who also performs fertility treatments, said none of the doctors at ORM would have done the procedure. "It's not like the eggs are going to go stale, so there's no pressure to do it quickly or all at once. It doesn't make sense and is crazy," she said.

Although Suleman had six children prior to her octuplets, people still question whether she will be able to effectively parent all 14. "I only have two children and that's tough enough," Kennard said. Berg, also a mother of two, said she does not believe Suleman's justification for parenting so many - that she hated being an only child.

"That's bizarre because she already had six who need her attention. How can you love being a mother so much that you forget to be a mother?" she said. "Her seven- and six-year-olds are going to be the baby-sitters."

Suleman has also received much criticism for attempting to raise all the children as a single parent.

"Two parents won't even be able to handle these kids," Berg said. "Even if you're super-parent, you can't properly provide for your kids all the time."

Berg said Suleman's sperm donor, who fathered all 14 of the children, needs to come forward and take accountability. "Why have we set up a system where a man can father numerous children and simply walk away without ever being financially responsible or physically present? A big family in a bad economy is a bad combo, so the dad needs to be there," she said.

Williams said that even though Suleman brought the burden upon herself, her community still should support her, for the babies' sake. Berg said the public should accept what happened, even though it is a burden.

"What happened was wrong, and citizens will be paying for it," she said.

Kennard said that with all the negative publicity Suleman has received, she doubts this predicament will ever happen again.

"There's definitely going to be more oversight with doctors from now on," she said.