Fertility doctor who treated octuplets mom Nadya Suleman facing more allegations from state medical board

The Medical Board of California has accused the Beverly Hills fertility doctor who treated octuplets mother Nadya Suleman of implanting too many embryos in another patient, causing the death of a fetus.

Dr. Michael Kamrava implanted seven embryos in a 48-year-old woman identified as L.C. -- more than the medically recommended two embryos -- causing her to become pregnant with quadruplets, the board said.

After complications with the pregnancy, the babies had to be delivered six weeks early by cesarean section. The mother lost one fetus during the pregnancy and another was born with “profound developmental delays,” according to a 20-page amended accusation filed June 30.

“He placed L.C. at great risk … which was confirmed by a quadruplet pregnancy that ended with catastrophic results,” the document said.

Kamrava also failed to refer the mother or her family -- a husband and three adult children -- for a mental health evaluation, it said.

In another case in 2009, Kamrava transferred an embryo into a 42-year-old woman with a history of cancer. The woman's ultrasound showed ovarian cysts, and cytology results came back "questionable," according to the Medical Board documents. Kamrava failed to order additional tests or refer her to a specialist to rule out ovarian cancer, the documents said. When she sought a second opinion after failing to become pregnant, she was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, the documents said.

The new charges come six months after the board accused Kamrava of a pattern of gross negligence that led to the birth of Nadya Suleman's 14 children, including the world's longest-surviving octuplets, and created a “stockpile” of unused frozen embryos that serve “no clinical purpose.”

The board has the ability to revoke Kamrava’s medical license. A hearing has been set for October.

Kamrava has repeatedly declined comment on the charges, and a call seeking comment was not immediately returned.

In his first interview since the birth of the octuplets, scheduled to air on ABC Tuesday night, he told "Nightline" that the experience has been “very traumatic and quite unexpected.”

Although he declined to comment on Suleman’s case because of doctor-patient confidentiality, he said that “it was done the right way … under the circumstances."

-- Tony Barboza and Kimi Yoshino

Photo: L.A. Times

Comments

[Cheri]

Well, it's high-time that someone held this RE accountable for his negligence! It is against ASRM guidelines to transfer high-order multiple embryos. It is also irresponsible that he didn't bother to do a background check or psychological screening on this woman! I think ALL prospective parents should undergo a psychological screening so that they don't make reckless decisions. Furthermore, each prospective parent should have to go through a background check including a welfare check to ensure that they are not receiving any state benefits prior to conceiving. This woman (Nadya Suleman) and her doctor acted extremely irresponsibly and dangerously stupid. There was no reason for this woman who already had six kids in the system to be receiving ANY IVF let alone put that many embryos in her body. And it's reckless of the doctor to do this to OTHER women. I believe he does this to up his statistics and for personal notariety and doesn't care about his patients well-being OR the outcome of their pregnancies. Shame on those who act so foolishly and shame on the scamming doctors that take the patient's money and fails to properly educate and protect them!