Where Is The Accountability?

I never like to use the word "blame" -- it has such a bad connotation in association with that word. I much prefer the word "Accountability" I have been reading other great blogs that have weighed in on the topic, and there are many of us who are wondering as well what to think. And rightly so because this situation is just so tragic and complicated.

And what topic is that you might ask? The birth of the Octuplet's of course.

I admit when I first heard about this -- I thought for sure it was a story out of the World News, or some other rag. I thought this couldn't possibly happen in the United States in the year 2009. Haven't we learned our lesson from the births of Chukwu septuplets or the McCaughey septuplets. But it did. Right in our own backyard.

There were so many unanswered questions -- and then we saw the interview with the mother, Nadya Suleman, and listened to her justification and we shook and we shook and we shook our heads. For some it was in disbelief, for others in sadness, and for yet others disgust.

The question now is -- Did this woman feel entitled? Or was she just lacking in judgment.

Not being a Psychologist nor a Psychiatrist I can't pretend to be in the mind of Nadya Suleman or know what her mental health background is about. I do muse out loud if Nadya had a psychological evaluation before she underwent this procedure. And I do also wonder what in the world her doctor was thinking.

The actions of her doctor and herself will possibly cause many issues for those of us who will be undergoing future 3rd Party Reproductive treatments in regards to regulation.

Do we really want the government in our uterus? Do we really want to be dictated to in regards to how many children we are aloud to have?

Of course we don't -- and so far our doctors have been self regulated. We have associations, and organizations, committee's and peer pressure, but in this case this doctor seems to not only be lacking in common sense but ethics. I can't imagine that he couldn't think that transferring that many embryos could possible not do any harm. And so that leaves me with thinking that his motivation was purely greed.

So - this brings me back to the title of today's blog. Who's accountable? Where does the accountability begin?

With Nadya? After all she could have just said "No" 0r does that accountability begin with her doctor? Who is the trained professional -- and while he's not a Psychiatrist or a Psychologist he did know this woman already had six children -- maybe that should have been a red flag? Maybe he should have referred her on to a mental health specialist to talk about her need for more children, and what her mental status was regarding her state of mind?

At the end of the day -- what's done is done, her children are all here, and you, me, and everyone else is going to be paying for them, and their care.

So what can we do to prevent something like this from happening again?