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Octuplet Mom Wants $2 Million, Oprah, and Free Diapers
These diapers hold a lot of, well...you know
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These diapers hold a lot of, well...you know
America is the land of opportunity, and here in Los Angeles County we have one woman who is ready to take any she can get. Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old single mother of 14--including those headline-making octuplets born a week ago--has a proposition for the world: Make her a star...and pay for her children.Suleman is already prepping to do television interviews with media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey and Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer, and hopes that her story compels companies to kick in with corporate sponsorships. High priority: Diapers, since she's going to be changing well over 250 of them a week for the next couple of years. Also, the woman who described herself as a "professional student" (and whose mother calls her "obsessed" with having kids) plans to have "a career as a television childcare expert," according to the Australian. Right now she's living off student loans and grants, and living in the Whittier home her parents bought her--right before they found themselves in so much debt they wound up declaring bankruptcy and moving in with her.
But Suleman's shining star might be a bit too tarnished. Not only did her own mother, Angela Suleman, paint her daughter in a less-than-flattering light, but details about the single mom's pregnancies, particularly this last one, are raising more than just eyebrows--they're raising some serious ethical questions.
All of Suleman's children were born through in vitro fertlilization, and there is speculation that she lied to her current doctor in order to be allowed to have her last 4 frozen embryos be planted. The 4 became 8 due to her hyperstimulated reproductive system, but "in choosing to carry all eight to term, Ms Suleman ignored guidelines, risking both their health and her own." Experts question the choice to implant so many, as well as remarked that IVF patients must pass a psychological evaluation before undergoing the procedure.
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Suleman was allegedly asked if she would be willing to abort some of the fetuses when she learned she was carrying 7 (the 8th was a delivery room surprise), but she did not want to do so. Fortunately, all 8 babies, which arrived 9 weeks early and were delivered by caesarian with the help of 46 doctors at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, are doing well, although will remain in the hospital for some time. Suleman remains in the hospital as well. When she is released, her mother has warned her that she and her father, Ed, will no longer be caring for the children as they are now; Mr. Suleman plans to return to his native Iraq to work as a translator.
Nadya Suleman is relying on the public's help to care for her 14 children, which include a set of 2-year-old twins and one autistic son, all of whom are under 7 years old. She broke up with her last boyfriend before the birth of her first child, and while the paternity of her octuplets is not known, it's believed she used a sperm donation from a friend.
But Suleman's story is for sale now. Are you buying it?
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