We keep finding out more and more about Nadya Suleman, the California woman who gave birth to octuplets. Her story — and related ethical and financial issues — will be with us indefinitely. The whole double-edged sword that is the fertility field needs re-examining – not mere “guidelines.” And the cost of Suleman more than doubling her family of six will reach seven figures.
As has been documented, Suleman is not married; she already has six young children; and in vitro fertilization — in this case an embryonic absurdity — was, indeed, involved. She’s an unemployed graduate student who receives food stamps and had been living with her parents. Her family recently filed for bankruptcy. But she loves children.
We also know that the 33-year-old has retained a public relations company. At the least, some kind of book offer seems in the offing. Maybe even a TV deal – although speculation of an “Eight Isn’t Enough” spin-off is obviously premature.
But media scenarios, as unseemly as they are, are the good news, because gift baskets and flowers won’t pay the extraordinary Kaiser Permanente Medical Center tab for eight seriously premature infants. Her “personal” decision has yielded serious societal-subsidy scenarios.
Absent some crass vehicle to tell and sell Suleman’s “amazing story,” costs will be borne the usual way: taxpayers and KPMC paying customers.