Can California sue the doctor involved in the octuplet birth for malpractice?

[wartrace]

I think they should try to recover some of the costs of raising those children & the hospital bills by suing the doctor who facilitated the situation. Thoughts?

[AngryAmish]

1. Not if Roe v. Wade means anything

[customerserviceguy]

11. So, reproductive "freedom"

is the right to compel any doctor to implant all the babies a uterus can shoot out over a lifetime?

[AngryAmish]

16. yes

[customerserviceguy]

23. Wow, talk about your slippery slope

It's funny how the Roe vs. Wade has been twisted in all kinds of ways over the last thirty five years. Yours is a novel one.

[LynneSin]

12. Roe V. Wade has nothing whatsoever to do with this case.

This wasn't a woman making a choice of something that happened without scientific intervention. This woman knowlingly had 6 fertilized eggs implanted into her (which was 3-4 more than what reputable fertility doctors will plant knowing that they want healthy babies delivered).

I think the state has a clear case of not only suing the doctor but demanding the doctor have his license stripped for male practice. These aren't kittens or puppies - these are human beings that need a hell of alot more care & nuturing than what one woman can provide. And from what I've read she's barely providing that dumping the kids off on grandma and now it seems she'll expect CalState Fullerton to take care of the kids too.

[TZ]

15. This is NOT malpractice though

No one was injured through medical negligence. Ethically questionable? Absolutely. Malpractice? By definition no. The medical board MIGHT be able to pull the docs license if they feel there is reason to do so. There really isn't much that can be done about this type of behavior.

[LynneSin]

17. Well you have a point there but there is negligence without a doubt

Any fertility doctor with even half a brain knows that the more eggs fertilized & growing in the uterus the greater the risk of severe defects when born.

And at some point fertility doctors have to ask themselves if what they are doing is right. I would never ever want to deny someone on low income the ability to have children. But this is a low income woman who already had 6. The doctors should have said 'no'.

[NashVegas]

20. Wait Another 30 Years

When those kids grow up, after having been raised by their 2-7 YO siblings, they'll have some interesting stories to tell.

[surrealAmerican]

26. I'm not willing to say "no one was injured".

Being premature, low birth weight babies in need of medical care seems like injury to me. Yes, it might still have happened if there were only one or two implanted embryos, but the more embryos, the greater the risk.

[AngryAmish]

18. Roe v. Wade and the ilk have everything to do with this case

In the US there is a right to privacy found within the US Constitution. That means the government cannot restrict the right to bear (or not bear) children until the third trimester of their growth inside their mother.

Can a government restrict the right to contraception? No (Griswold v. Connecticut). The right to in-vitro fertilization is also in their somewhere I posit. The government simply has no say in any reproductive action.

It is a personal right. It is held by the individual.

Now, almost all personal rights are limited. Place, time and method for 1st Amendment, no machine guns in 2d Amendment, and all that. However, repeatedly, the US Supreme Court has found that the state has no right to interfere until the third trimester.

The counter argument - suing for malpractice is not restricting the right. The government (State of California) says we have to pay for all these kids. You screwed up. Well, if the government has no say on whether or not this procedure goes forward, then it is restricting a choice before the third trimester.

Do you understand what I am saying or am I not explaining it well enough?

[LynneSin]

19. Do you understand what the Hippocratic Oath is all about

Doctors are sworn to do no harm. And any dimwitted fertility doctor knows that the more eggs fertilzed means the greater the chance that there could be severe problems with the birth and for the mother. If this idiot was so concerned about not using all of the eggs the doctor could have planted just 2-3 eggs and then put the rest on ice for future use.

And consider this - what if I had a perfectly healthy, functioning leg but for some bizarre medical twist I wanted it amputated (and there are people like this - it is a disorder). Should I just be able to go into any doctor's office and say "Hey, please amputate this leg I feel I should have the body of a person with only one leg"

Guess what NO DOCTOR WILL DO THAT PROCEDURE.

Yes there is a thing called privacy but there is also something called performing your duties as a doctor to insure that no harm will come of what you have done. At some point doctors have the right to stand back and say "No this is not right" and I'm guessing most fertility doctors probably told that to this clueless idiot.

So, what part do YOU not understand?


http://members.tripod.com/nktiuro/hippocra.htm

[AngryAmish]

21. I agree with you that this was a stupid thing to do

I just don't think the law can be involved, for constitutional reasons I set forth above.

The government can't sue a person for exercising ther constitutional rights, under the current framework.

[LynneSin]

24. You have a point however I do think they have a right to push regulations on the practice

I mean, if I was a woman with no job, 6 kids all under the age of 7 and with 3 of them with disabilities - would the state allow me to adopt 8 more kids just because that's what I want?

Just because medicine can create monsters like this woman doesn't mean we should. The woman was upset she was having difficulty getting pregnant and turned to a specialist that could help her and I have no problem with that. But there has to be a point where we say "Is this safe" (meaning putting no more than 2-3 eggs at at time) and "Is this woman mentality capable of handling more kids" (meaning perhaps there is a mental issue that makes this woman carve her face up to look like angelina joile and is addicted to IVF).

[napi21]

2. I don't think so. Every "expert" I've heard has said there are

"Guidelines" and "Suggstions" on how many embryos to implant, but NO LAWS. You can't sue unless there was a law broken.

[Avalux]

3. Not likely.

Likeliest scenario is that the physician loses his medical license and the clinic is closed which will come from a consensus among his peers; medical community.

As far as I know there are no laws in place which would give the state of California recourse against the physician.

[Auggie]

4. I'd rather see the medical license suspended.

The Doctor likely knew she couldn't support those kids.

Besides, where's the malpractice?

[saltpoint]

5. My hunch is that the procedure is legal. My other hunch is that

the procedure is risky and socially stupid.

The State may intervene in the life of a family if children are felt to be in one or another degree of harm.

That, if that becomes the hinge issue, would not concern either the legality of the procedure or the reproductive freedom of the mother, but rather would be prompted by safety concerns of the child / children.

[sarge43]

6. It's a social and maybe an ethical issue. It's not a legal one. n/t

[KittyWampus]

7. No, but the Medical Board can pull the doctor's license.

[mucifer]

8. The doctor isn't going to do this again. I'm sure he learned his lesson.

This is one of those headline grabbing stories that takes attention away from the important stuff like the 2 wars we are waging. Thankfully it doesn't seem as big as the missing pretty blonde women of previous years. But, I see this as similar.

[ColesCountyDem]

9. Since malpractice is a *personal injury action*, the answer is 'no'.

The only person who would have a legal right to sue would be the mother, and it doesn't seem that she has any plans on doing so.

[customerserviceguy]

10. If that's the case

then hundreds of thousands of plastic surgeons would start to worry, too!

Loss of license is plenty enough for me, that will cause the rest of the people in this business to make damn good and sure that they're doing this for the right reasons in the future.

[guitar man]

13. sue his ass for child support

He is the one who irresponsibly impregnated her. :grr:

[Lucky Luciano]

22. I think your idea is an interesting one. nt

[guitar man]

25. yep

If I got her pregnant the old fashioned way with one kid or 8, someone would be after my ass for child support.

[wartrace]

14. Just an idea, it seems that he did do harm in this case.

He should have known the children would become wards of the state more or less. I would like to see him shut down at a minimum in this case, he lacks good judgement.