Media Blog- PGD/PGS
CHR Blog: Donor oocytes recipient dies 2 years after giving birth to twins
Here comes California again! After giving us reproductive cloning, Octomom and, shortly thereafter, the charade of selecting hair and eye colors through preimplantation genetic diagnosis, California has struck again. Widely reported by practically all news media, a single woman, believed to be the oldest on record to have given birth via IVF-conceived offspring, suddenly died, Saturday, July 11, 2009, leaving behind 2-year old twins without a parent.
At the time of her death she was, according to news reports, just shy of her 67th birthday, which means that at the time of her IVF procedure she was probably around 64-65. And who would perform IVF on a woman of such age? Of course only a California-based reproductive endocrinologist, just like in all of the other three above noted instances, when colleagues did their absolute best to bring the public’s scrutiny, and therefore likely further government regulations, upon our profession.
The physician involved, Vick Sahakian, MD, is a Board certified reproductive endocrinologist who is owner and Medical Director of the Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles, CA. Looking up the center on the Internet, one, initially, may be misdirected to an IVF center of the same name, located in the San Francisco area. Recognizing the potential PR disaster they may face, this center, however, very quickly distancing itself from this case, makes the point on its website that their center follows very different clinical standards than their Los Angeles-based, and unrelated, counterpart.
When asked why he would treat a woman of such advanced age, Dr. S. claimed to have been misled by the now deceased patient, who supposedly lied about her age, claiming to be only 55 years old. To us the media appear gullible in believing this because, visiting the center’s website, the brief bio of Dr. S. (obviously posted before the death of the patient) proudly claims: “He is responsible for the oldest woman on record to have given birth at the age of 67.” Moreover, this statement follows a very direct pitch for patients of advanced ages when the bio states: “Dr. S. also specializes in treating patients with advanced maternal age, including postmenopausal women seeking infertility treatments through egg donation.”
Hallelujah! Here sure is evidence for some kind of specialization!
In media releases Dr. S. claimed that he did not treat single women seeking in-vitro fertilization over the age of 55. What a coincidence that this patient allegedly claimed to be of exactly that age! And, how about married women over age 55? Would those be candidates for treatment?
All of this, of course, stinks to heaven, - just like claims of reproductive cloning do, the creation of octuplets does, claims of hair and eye color selection via PGD and, God knows, what else some of our California colleagues will come up with in the foreseeable future. There is obviously something very wrong with how IVF is being practice by some in California, when all of these outliers, practically without exception, come from this one state.
Yes, the practice of reproductive endocrinology and infertility is obviously competitive in California, but so is it in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and many other states. What is it about California that seems to bring out the worst in the profession?
The media, of course, love the story because, like the octuplets it is so extreme. Who in his right mind would transfer enough embryos to achieve octuplets in a single mother with already 5 children at home, and who would impregnate a 64-65 year old single woman via egg donation? And who can even argue with more government regulations when these kind of crazy practices take place?
Like in the case of Octomom, an investigation by California’s Licensing Board and ASRM/SART would appear appropriate. Patients do sometimes lie about their age. If the patient did, it should be confirmed; but if she didn’t, then the physician who impregnates a 64-65 year old woman should have to answer some hard questions. And even if the patient lied, and indeed claimed to be only 55 years old at time of conception, what kind of medical testing was performed to assure that an allegedly 55-year old was in good enough shape to go through pregnancy?
Helping patients to conceive gives us also a level of social responsibility, and especially in cases of single women: Can a woman afford to be a single mother? Does she have the social framework to be a single mother? What if something happens to her in the short term or, God forbid, if she dies? Who will take care of the offspring? Those are questions that have to be asked and appropriately answered in every single woman who is seeking fertility services, whether 35 or 55 years old.
It seems time that ASRM/SART issue guidelines on how single females should be screened socially before they receive medical help to become single moms. This is not discriminatory; it is simply good medicine! Neither Octomom, nor this recently deceased 67 year old mother of twins in this sense received good medical care. Both of these single women, at least looking at matters through the retrospectoscope, should not have received IVF treatments.
We hope it will turn out that Dr. S. did all the right things and, sometimes, as we all know, bad things can happen even under such circumstances. Unfortunately, like in the Octomom case, the available evidence at the present time suggests otherwise. Considering the unfortunate outcome of this most recent case, it is important that we all learn how it could have happened in the first place. And once we know, we better make certain it never will happen again!
Media contact: 212-994-4400 x.4491 CHR's Media Blog is a compilation of potential story ideas gathered from infertility-related news, our research, and our opinion to facilitate open communication with the public on this increasingly relevant field of medicine.
Editors, reporters and producers are invited to contact CHR for background or clarification on any content posted here. Also, our team of fertility experts has considerable experience providing comments for publication on infertility-related subjects and participating on broadcast panels to share our expertise.
