Woman sues. Seriously. WTF?
This story just popped up on my news reader: Mom sues after IVF brings 2 babies instead of 1. My first thought was, “WHAT?!?!” Of all the things to be upset about…. after going through infertility… and IVF… and getting pregnant… to SUE THE DOCTOR for getting twins? Are you effing kidding me? Even me, who was in large part scared of getting more than one, was well aware of all the risks involved.
This part brings another aspect to it, though, I have no clue if it’s the news putting a spin on things or if there’s a lot more to the story than reported: “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.” Now IF – and I do mean if – she made it dead clear that she only wanted one embryo transferred (transferred, you news retards!) and they directly ignored her wishes and put two in… then perhaps there’s something there. Because that’s not grey area, that’s pretty black and white – I want X, you did Y. At my clinic we have to sign a consent form stating how many embryos we want transferred at the time of transfer, and I suspect it’s the same in just about every IVF clinic across the U.S. Maybe Austrlia doesn’t have that set up (yet – if they don’t already, this will surely get them to consider it). But again, that’s a big if.
But if she had NO specific demands on the number of embryos transferred, she should have known damn well what her odds were. If she only said, “I want one baby,” and the doctor said, “Well this is the best chance of getting you that,” and she said, “Okay then,” well then, tough shit. Doctor’s can’t predict things like that. IVF, for how very highly scientific it all is, is still very much a crapshoot. There are no guarantees. Hell, they could put one embryo back and you could still get identical twins. It’s the whole question of informed consent – yet again, something we in the U.S. have to jump through hoops to accomplish (that includes a required class on IVF, required reading, and signing consent forms stating we have read all that reading, which includes statistics on success rates and twinning rates). So that when the client turns around and says, “I never knew that,” they have no case, because you signed a paper saying you understand.
I wish there was more to the story. Right now it just leaves you wondering. But I HATE the impression that it gives out. Like we really need more IVF bad stories out there in the mainstream media? It’s misunderstood enough as it is.
Oh, I love this part too… the couple’s combined income is over $82k US per year, and the costs they are suing for include private school fees. And she’s whining about the cost of a pram for twins. WTF? At what point did private school become a necessary cost of raising a baby? And you can’t tell me that you have no other options for prams (strollers)? That whole last part of the article just makes her look like a completely spoiled crybaby. Again, could be the article twisting things. But don’t you think it would have been a hell of a lot pursuasive to worry about, say, the increased health risks of carrying twins? The increased risk of premature birth? The increased risk of time in the NICU? No, instead of she’s upset over the damn pram.
Ugh. I’m just so freakin’ annoyed.
W…TF. I hate people.
That really pisses me off. I mean, even if one embryo transferred, it could have split into twins. Doctors can’t do anything about that. What a c**t. I’ll gladly take the one baby she doesn’t want.
Well, I can tell you, as a mother of twins, $82,000 doesn’t go very far at all. Kids are expensive and even one child can strain that kind of income–it’s not a huge amount of money these days and even the most frugal parents find themselves throwing money all over the place, particularly the first few years. As for the what she sued for, I know nothing about the Austalian system, but in the US you can only sue for damages you have actually suffered or will suffer in the future. Further, if you have the reasonable expectation that your child will attend private school, and they may very well have that expectation however unreasonable it may seem to us, then you can certainly ask for that.
Having said that, I still think this woman is ungrateful and wacky.
I think its a horribly written article that plays up the whacko side when we really have NO idea what went on between her and her doctor. I am leaning on what you said, about them outright disregarding her wishes. That is really the only rational explanation. I think the media is just picking up the extremely stupid parts of it, the pram ffs! and making it a blurb story.
ridiculous that this is news worthy, in any case.
What I can find of it in the Dutch media is that she specifically told her doctor that she only wanted one child. He transferred two embryos, which resulted in non-identical twins.
I couldn’t find more on this (for instance whether the mother had specific demands on the number of embryos transferred.) In essence, the newsarticle over here is just as retarded as the ones you’ve been reading.
Wow. I know I need to know more of the details… but I really hate this woman at the moment!
WTF! Really? That is the stupidiest thing I’ve ever heard! Her babies should be taken away if you ask me! I’ll take them, I want twins! Ugh…people annoy me especailly stupid ones like her that should be happy she has two babies that are indeed hers and she carried them!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20841486/
states her doctor did implant two instead of one.
its still msnbc though, so, still sensationalized news.
That’s the same article, Erin. :P And it doesn’t state that she specified only one being transferred. Kind of a big piece of info to leave out.
no no nooo i must have cut and pasted the wrong link from another message board i am on. ill go looking, if you want me to. dang it.
or maybe i am on crack. the part i saw quoted was that she said she wanted two, and they gave her two embryos that lead to non identical twins, or something.
oh i hate when i do that. too much net for me today.
correction, wanted one. delete my comments. rofl
i should not comment at 5 am.