LOS ANGELES — The Beverly Hills doctor whose fertility treatment led to the birth of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets — and her six previous children — has one of the worst success rates of any fertility clinic in the country, according to federal records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.
Taxpayers are already footing part of the bill for a situation he helped create. Suleman, 33, receives $490 a month in food stamps, and three of her first six children are disabled and receiving federal benefits.
Moreover, Kaiser Permanente Hospital in suburban Bellflower has asked California’s health plan for the poor to cover the cost for the eight premature infants in its care, according to multiple sources familiar with the case.
Suleman’s publicist, Michael Furtney, confirmed the information about the food stamps and federal supplemental security income after two sources informed the Times of the benefits. Three sources told the Times that Kaiser has requested Medi-Cal reimbursement for care of the octuplets, which is estimated to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In an NBC interview, Suleman identified the clinic that provided the in-vitro fertilizations that led to all 14 of her children as West Coast IVF Clinic, which is run by Michael Kamrava.
According to federal records reviewed by the Times, of the 61 procedures Kamrava conducted in 2006 — the most recent data available — only five resulted in pregnancies and only two of those resulted in births. One of those births was Suleman’s twins.
“These are the worst numbers I’ve ever seen. This is absurdly low,” said Dr. Mark Surrey, another fertility specialist in Beverly Hills.
But in Suleman, Kamrava found a patient who got pregnant and gave birth every time. For seven years, Suleman tried to get pregnant through artificial insemination and fertility drugs. When she finally tried in-vitro fertilization at Kamrava’s clinic, it worked the first time — and each time after that.
His history of poor results comes despite Kamrava’s placing more embryos per procedure than all but 10 of the nation’s 426 fertility clinics for patients under 35. In 2006, he averaged 3.5 embryos per in vitro fertilization treatment, compared with the national average of 2.3.
Other fertility specialists said that placing high numbers of embryos is a common way that poorly performing clinics try to boost their pregnancy rates. It also increases the risk of multiple births, which pose a danger to the woman and her babies.
In her NBC interview, Suleman defended her doctor. She called her treatment “very appropriate,” particularly because of her history of miscarriages and scarred fallopian tubes.
“The most I would have ever anticipated would have been twins,” Suleman said. “It wasn’t twins times four.”
Kamrava declined to comment Monday.
Suleman, who lives with her mother in a three-bedroom home, acknowledged in the NBC interview that she was struggling to support her six children before the birth of her octuplets. But she said she knows she will be able to pay their bills, especially after she earns her master’s degree in counseling.
