Octomom Doc Kamrava: 'It Was Done the Right Way'
Dr. Michael Kamrava, who performed IVF on Nadya Suleman, speaks for first time.
July 13, 2010 — -- It's perhaps the biggest scandal ever to hit the world of in-vitro fertilization. The so-called "Octomom," Nadya Suleman, gave birth last year to eight children even though she was a single mother with no job and had six previous children in rapid succession through IVF.
While Suleman has given interviews and talked about her doctor -- the doctor who helped her give birth to all 14 of her children -- the doctor himself has never spoken about the case, until now.
He is Dr. Michael Kamrava, a 30-year veteran of IVF. Originally from Iran, Kamrava has been roundly condemned by the medical world.
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"It's been very traumatic and quite unexpected," Kamrava said of the treatment at the hands of his medical peers.
Kamrava said he remains confident, however, that in the case of Nadya Suleman, he did the right thing.
"Because of the doctor-patient confidentiality, I can't talk about that," he said. But then he offered this:
"It was done the right way," he said. "...Under the circumstances."
Many of Kamrava's peers in the medical world do not agree. He was kicked out of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) after it came out that he implanted six embryos in Nadya Suleman's womb.
The society's guidelines say no more than two embryos should be implanted in women under 35 years of age. Suleman turned 35 on July 11. She gave birth to the octuplets in January 2009, at age 33.
"I would say it would be totally irresponsible," said Dr. Roger Lobo, the ASRM's president-elect, referring to Kamrava's actions.
What's more, government statistics show that Kamrava was regularly implanting many more embryos in his patients than recommended by the ASRM.
We asked Kamrava about the characterization by Lobo of his continual implantations of multiple embryos as "totally irresponsible."
"It's interesting to hear that, where according to the ASRM, actually -- and I have a copy of their latest commentary on this -- they say 70 percent of the programs do not adhere to their recommendations," said Kamrava. "So, how do you put me in the same group on the same people criticizing me? ... I'm not defending. I'm saying there are certain situations that need certain attention in each case."
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