Octuplets' mom identifies her fertility clinic in Beverly Hills

Whittier mom Nadya Suleman told NBC in an interview that aired this morning that she sought treatment at a Beverly Hills clinic for all her in vitro fertilization procedures, including the one that resulted in the birth of octuplets.

The 33-year-old said she went to West Coast Infertility Medical Clinic -- now named West Coast IVF Clinic -- headed by Michael M. Kamrava. He describes himself on his website as "an internationally recognized leader in the field of in vitro fertilization" who has helped pioneer "breakthrough technology that revolutionized IVF, reducing risks to both the mother and child." That procedure also helped reduce costs, according to the website.

According to statistics collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, his clinics performed 20 in vitro procedures in 2006 on women under 35. Of those procedures, four resulted in pregnancies and only two of those resulted in birth. One of those women delivered twins. His pregnancy rate and live birth rate are far below the national average, according to the statistics.

At the same time, the average number of embryos that he transferred per procedure -- 3.5 -- was among the highest in the country for women under 35. Fertility specialists say that a high number of embryo transfers usually reflects either a patient population with an especially poor prognosis or problems with the laboratory.

Medical guidelines established by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine recommend transferring no more than two embryos per procedure in women under 35 except in "extraordinary circumstances."

Suleman told NBC's Ann Curry that her treatment was "very appropriate." He implanted six embryos, which she had remaining from previous procedures because of her medical history, which include miscarriages and scarred fallopian tubes.

"At the time I was so focused, so fixated on wanting so many that I just kept going," Suleman said. Because the success rates are low, Suleman said, "the most I would have ever anticipated would have been twins. It wasn't twins times four."

She said implanting that many embryos, even after having six young children at home, was "nothing different" from before.

"He did nothing different," she said.

Kamrava could not be reached for comment this morning.

Since the birth, Suleman has come under fire for going ahead with all the pregnancies when she already had six children at home. She is a single mother and a graduate student who lives with her mother.

She denied getting pregnant to make a lot of money and told Curry that money is "paper." She said she is not on government assistance.

She said that with six children, she was struggling financially to support them and likely would not have been able to make it without the support of her mother, who allowed the family to stay with her in her three-bedroom Whittier home.

"I will feed them; I will do the best I possibly can," Suleman said in the interview. "In my own way, in my own faith, I do believe wholeheartedly that God will provide in his own way."

KTLA released video today showing Suleman at the clinic in 2006 talking about the in vitro process.

"I was slightly pessimistic, then I realized, yeah, it worked," she said in the interview, which also showed two of her children.

The video shows a doctor, which KTLA identified as Michael Kamrava, describing the medical process.

-- Alan Zarembo and Kimi Yoshino

Are you a patient or former patient of Dr. Michael Kamrava? Contact Kimi Yoshino at this link.

Comments

[vochoa0371]

Yeah, I do agree people should mind their own business but people do have the right to speak. For who is loosing in this transaction of lives, I believe dear mom is. For the comment "Money is Paper", Hmmm... Well it is... Can you show me what tree gave you money that we can use to pay our bills? I would like to grow a tree like yours in my backyard, front yard, side yards and even inside my house. Damn, I am tired of working and i am only 37 going on 38 years old... Shame on you Doc for doing what you did... If your clinic remains in business, shame on our government for not doing anything about what you did. Successful or not, you are wrong.

[John]

To Angie at 12:08 PM:

*I* am paying many pennies to help Ms. Suleman. You see, I pay insurance premiums to Kaiser Permanente, which - for an dollar amount they refuse to share - decided to provide complementary pre and post-natal care. (Never mind the delivery, but under law they would have to provide delivery in the ER regardless.)

I'll respect Ms. Suleman whan Kaiser respects my health care costs.

[pbishop]

Where is this woman getting this kind of money? I notice cosmetic surgery (fish lips) also. If she can afford this, maybe she can afford to pay for these children instead of the taxpayer.

[vochoa0371]

You know that the good all Doc probably said to her "Let's do it. The state will fork out the bill." Wait a minute, did she even have any type of insurance. Hmmm... Doc? Did you do this for free? Publicity? Hmmm... Shame on you Doc... Are you American or an X-Hitler Doc who hid for a long time and came out... Make me another Captain American... Super soldier syrum here it comes right Doc... Hey babe, you would of been safer just saying you went over to TJ and had this done up there so that the public would not be in an uproar like we are right now. Do not hate us for being mean. I know you are not mental; however, you did hurt your family plus those 8 and the 6 previous kids. You do not think they will be scarred for life did you... Where are you going to go where no one is going to be pointing fingures at them? They are going to be living horrible lives. Your carelessness will be their pain in life. God is not punishing them. You did. I do not mind feeding one or two extra mouths but 14 with no job and hoping for a book deal to come is shameful. Maybe Opera will help you.

[kv]

Seems you are all alone up there in your support, "CAPS Angie"...(what, you knew you would have to "shout" to be heard?) I hope this messed up woman and her doctor make not a DIME from this debacle and that those children are placed in a home with 2 parents with a job and time and energy to devote to them--that is what all children deserve!

[Paige]

Shameful, selfish behavior all around! I hope that child services will look into the situation and make sure all of her children are cared for. There is no way a single woman with limited resources can raise 14 young children who thrive. Having children is much more than whether or not you can pay for them. It's about making sure that they are healthy emotionally, too. I also hope the doctor who performed this "miracle" has his license revoked. Finally, for the poster who doesn't think that we're paying "a penny" for this woman's care, I believe you're wrong. Those pennies won't be coming directly from my purse, but they will through taxes. But what upsets me isn't the money but the fact that 14 children won't get the nurturing they need.

[lydia]

Beverly Hills?..isn't this the same women who filed for bankruptcy? if this women isn't a con artist then what is she? she should be put behind bars..better yet someone please call the mental ward on her I think she escaped she did hurt her back there if I recall..why is she allowed to being running around on the lose?

[Ron Larson]

The doctor that did this is irresponsible. Sad.

[Chris Doyle]

Are you kidding me..... SHUT DOWN this baby & Welfare factory. How long until these "doctors" start dragging other deranged woman off the streets and out of mental institutions and start knocking them up without daddy's? This is a JOKE!!! 14 mouths to feed and - THIS JUST IN - since God hasn't been heard from in 2000 + years, Mommy may start looking towards God's American relative, UNCLE SAM, for the support she will surely need. I think we can all gauge this woman's mental capacity if she is depending on Jesus Christ to provide! Good luck Nut Job!

[Chris Doyle]

Who paid f Dr. Michael Kamrav to execute this procedure? Does California offer free IVF treatments for all citizens or did this woman actually pay this guy? If she paid, where did she come uo with the money when she has 6 starving babies at home? Or worse yet did this "doctor" actually implant 6 embryos for without being paid? It appears there may be multiple mentally incompetent adults in this mess. Perhaps God will sky write these answers for me above my home but, just in case this doesn't pan out for me, can someone please provide me answers!!!

[Ann]

What I find increasingly disgusting is Miss. Suleman and her publicists' disregard for the grandmother who is left taking care of her children. Miss Suleman seems to feel entiltled... entitled with little regard for anyone elses feelings, her other 6 children, her mother and father, all need to bend to her desires.

[Christa]

pbishop, I am glad that I am not the only one who noticed the fish lips. She could do a commercial for plumpy nut (pun intended.) I was wondering if this miracle lip job was botched by the same doctor.
I feel sorry for those babies though, being stuck with such an idiot for a mother.

[Lance]

It is interesting how almost everyone has a very similar opinion on this case- in these trying economic times, we are ALL tired of paying for the selfish, irresponsible decisions of other people. The only thing new that I will add is that I will boycott any station that sets up or airs a reality TV series with her family. As a classroom teacher, it troubles me to see how many students already lack proper parenting- and for whatever reason, the people who cry loudest about wanting lots of children seem least capable of actually being responsible parents. Shame on the clinic, the staff, the insurance company, the mother- and her family.

[Rossalind]

I am a patient of Dr. Kamrava, and I am very hopeful that my husband and myself are as fortunate as this young lady. If anything, this has increased my confidence in the doctor. I have had nothing but good experiences with him and his staff and look forward to my procedure very much.

[Jim in Pasadena]

Holy jacked up premiums!! Ms Suleman isn't a Kaiser member?? Kaiser care is 'complementary'? That is, complements of all of the rest of us Kaiser members with co-pay plans who will be subsidizing her and the babies care with even greater jacked up premiums! I guess we get to start paying before Cali taxpayers, including us Kaiser members for a second hit. But then we're all so happy she could fulfill her fixations and she got to exercise her reproductive options, as LilyC pointed out. How wonderful... NOT!!!

[J in Pasadena]

So what is Worker's Comp if it's not government assistance? She has been on the dole since 1999 I read.

The NBC interview was not complimentary to her character. What is really interesting is that we as a society apparently evolved so much that an unwed mother is only considered socially unacceptable when the mother has octuplets. She leeches off her aged mother and wastes her disability checks on elective procedures. She is not disabled, she is a prime case for Worker's Compensation fraud. I hope they put her in prison for about a decade.

The doctor on the other hand is a real piece of work himself. The treatment was the textbook definition of irresponsibility. The Medical Board should revoke his license for moral turpitude for taking this lady's money knowing her history.

Now I'm just wondering who paid for the hospitalization? ME, I bet, the taxpayer. What a joke.

[J in Pasadena]

What if next week she wants more kids???

[Amy]

I guess it's easy to regard money as merely paper and believe that "god" will provide for you when you have a mother who is bleeding herself dry in order to care for your litter. If her mother turned her out into the streets where she belongs (which she will likely never do because it would harm her grandchildren right along with her selfish, irresponsible daughter), she'd get one hell of a wake-up call. "God" is not going to pay for those kids' expenses, he's not going to house them, he's not going to diaper and feed them and he's not going to clean up after them. Suleman is delusional on multiple levels, and I feel sorry for her children.

[Sarahi G.]

This offends me. I had my baby in Kaisser. The worst service, they had so few people, that I was there for 26 hours in labor... at the end my husband take my leg (YES!!!) with a nurse and I had my baby. After that I was in a hallway (YES IN A HALLWAY) for 4 hours because they don't had a room for me. With all the respect I felt like Virgin Mary homeless. It was awful, and then I see this irresponsible woman with 50 persons working for her. Unemployed (I am sure because she is lazy) with the royal treatment. This situation is indignant. I won’t pay any penny to follow the story of this freak (with Brittney I have enough and at least she has a talent).

[Single mom of 2]

But her collagen injected lips and those french manicured nails look great! How a single mother of 14 has the time or the funds for such luxuries is truly a Miracle from Heaven. But I'm not judging! ;)

[Karen]

G-d helps those who help themselves- Right Nadya?

[Doug from ME]

I find it interesting that the plastic surgeons show more moral fiber than the fertility doctors (or, at least, the ones treating Ms. Suleman). There was a young woman last year who wanted to increase her bust size from 38FFF to 38KKK but, every doctor in the US refused to perform the procedure. She ended up going to Brazil where they have no such restrictions. I'm sure that Ms. Suleman would have pursued a similar path if the fertility doctors had shown anything close to that kind of ethical standards. With all of the talk of book deals and movies and hiring publicists, I'm sure she feel that she will end up financially okay even if she if morally corrupt and devoid of any maternal instincts relative to the well-being of her children. I would not be surprised to find out that the fertility clinic believed they would profit directly, or indirectly, from the notoriety brought about by this occurence. At first I thought that Ms. Suleman was psychologically impaired but I believe the correct diagnosis is, 'Whack Job'!

[c potts]

I have one question to ask what is beating up on the mother goning to accomplish now?
America stop tripping those babies are here now. We are now trying to throw the baby out with the bath water For all of you that says take the kids from the mother.AND DO WHAT WITH THEM? your using that as a punishment.Some of you have said tax payer will have to foot the bill.. probably so But they are American born citizens entitle to everything any other citizen is entitled too.Those children are the most helpless and vunerable in all of this Not you. Mr. Tax payer instead of criticism Prayer for the family is what needed because their are headed for a lot of heartach. Why punish them. Unfortunately this is a case of technology that was intended for good backfiring.In all thing that man does that goes against the natuaral ways of Gods you have the posibility of man made chaos.

[theresa99]

the total lack of regard this woman has for anyone but herself is staggering - did it ever occur to her that maybe her parents didn't want to live in a 24/7 daycare center, that maybe they didn't want to be shackled to her and her litter for the rest of their natural lives? - and how do you even begin to describe the raw deal that all of her children are going to get? - there is no way she can begin to afford these children and nurture and care for them properly - she simply will not have the time and she certainly doesn't have the maturity - so she wants to be a TV star - great - while she's out scouting for book deals and agents, her children, her parents, and California taxpayers will be picking up the tab for her self-centered stupidity

[Tess]

I hope this woman gets spayed before she goes to another quack for more.