I need to explain that my patients are suffering, some so severely that it affects their marriage, their jobs and often their health. I’m responsible for alleviating their suffering. I share my compassion for their troubles, hoping I may start to develop a bond with them.

I meet with each couple to try to evaluate the presence of any relationship problems. Sometimes these problems are sexual in nature, often related to difficulties with communication and, unfortunately, sometimes include violent behavior on the part of one or both spouses. Working with a program that employs a highly-trained mental health professional and a mind-body team approach helps alleviate stress, works on relationships and helps improve the health of my patients through nutrition, acupuncture and massage, as well as support groups. A healthier, less stressed patient with proper flow of Qi is more likely to conceive with my most advanced scientific infertility treatments available to man.

So I say to Jayden, “Saba is a doctor who helps people become mommies and daddies.” Jayden was not sure he was satisfied. His face frowned. He shrugged his shoulders and raised his arms, palms turned up. “How Saba?” he asked.

“With G-d’s help and the help of all those good dedicated men and women who work with me in the office,” I replied. With that, I looked at my grandson with all the joy and love a grandparent can feel for his grandchild, to which Jayden added, “Can we play another game of Wii?”

According to the Center for Disease Control, reported in the same NY Times issue, thousands of premature deliveries would be prevented resulting in a $1.1 Billion savings if elective single embryo transfer was performed on good prognosis patients. That brings us to regulating how many embryos to transfer as Octomom went through IVF with transfer of six embryos. At East Coat Fertility, we make it cost neutral to transfer only one embryo at a time by offering free cryopreservation, free embryo storage and free embryo transfers until a patient achieves a live birth, all for the cost of a single IVF cycle. Patients are encouraged by this program not to put all their eggs in one basket. Success rates with an elective fresh single embryo transfer with IVF at our program, is 50% and with subsequent frozen embryo transfers it is over 64%. It is possible that East Coast Fertility is the only center in the country doing this. That is the shame of it.

Fertility treatment without IVF is even more hazardous since as many eggs that are developed with treatment may implant and lead to a hazardous multiple pregnancy. In a perfect world, where a patient’s welfare was put before insurance companies, IVF would be a covered service for all people, and the use of fertility medications in an uncontrolled IUI cycle would not be used anymore. In this perfect world, we would also regulate how many embryos are transferred. It is time to put our professional recommendations of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) into law. There is flexibility built into the recommendations taking into account critical factors such as patient age, embryo quality and past experience.

It is not until we discourage the use of gonadotropins without IVF by offering IVF as a regulated covered alternative will we eliminate risky multiple pregnancies. Until then, all of us including society, the government, insurance companies and employers are to blame for letting these dangerous multiple pregnancies occur.