The furor over the California octuplet case refuses to die.
Attention has recently been focused on her doctor, one Michael Kamrava. MedPage Today cites a LA Times story, shedding more light on the physician and his Beverly Hills practice.
In addition to the Suleman case, another one of his patients his currently hospitalized with quadruplets. Apparently, in reproductive medicine, any result greater than twins is “considered a poor outcome because of the danger it poses to the mother and the babies.”
Dr. Kamrava’s clinic has had reported pregnancy and live-birth rates significantly below the national average. Terrence Lee, a reproductive endocrinologist who’s providing some of the best insight on the issue, comments on the numbers.
He notes that the clinic does not do many cycles, and that “the number of embryos transferred in this program is higher than the national average for the younger patients.” In addition, “the pregnancy rates here for patients 35 and over could not be any worse than the zero % success rate reported by this program.”
Dr. Lee wonders how the clinic could stay in business with such a poor success rate, and if advertising and slick marketing materials trumped the efficacy of the program.
