In recent weeks the Chicago Tribune has published several articles, columns and letters to the editor regarding the difficulties faced by young couples following the birth of quintuplets.
In these cases, as in most others involving pregnancies with three or more babies, the couples underwent some form of infertility therapy.
Such pregnancies are much more likely to result in pre-term delivery and their associated consequences, including long-term developmental problems, cerebral palsy and death.
Couples undergoing such therapy owe it to themselves to become fully informed regarding the risks of multiple gestation associated with their treatments, and should play an active role in any clinical decision-making designed to minimize this risk.
Physicians providing the type of care that entails such risk, primarily ovulation induction and in-vitro fertilization, have a corresponding ethical obligation to take the multiple gestation issue seriously and to carefully follow established clinical guidelines to minimize their incidence.
While human-interest stories about couples with multiple newborns may contain heartwarming elements, the bottom line is that high-order multiple births should be viewed as highly undesirable outcomes, and every effort should be made to minimize them.
