Fetuses

Re "Octuplets rattle fertility experts," Jan. 28 I am relieved to see that even the fertility community is uneasy with such irresponsible medical decisions as to allow a woman to carry eight fetuses. The mother will discover when she tries to breast-feed all of them that humans are not meant to have litters. There is a reason why women have only two breasts. No woman should be allowed to receive fertility treatments unless she is willing to sign either a commitment to selective reduction, or an agreement to pay all the healthcare costs herself.

A man suspected of fatally shooting his pregnant 17-year-old girlfriend earlier this month has made the Long Beach Police Department's most-wanted list after he was seen near the crime scene last weekend. Prosecutors have filed two counts of murder against 25-year-old Robert Charles Thomas. He faces the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of murdering Angel Monique Johnson and her three-month fetus.

Dianna D'Aiello insisted Tuesday that her ex-husband beat her, but conceded that she could not be sure that Kevin Green caused the death of her unborn child--a crime that kept Green in prison nearly 17 years. D'Aiello said she is still trying to reconcile her vivid memories of the night of her September 1979 attack with the stunning news that suspected serial killer Gerald Parker has allegedly confessed to the bludgeoning, which killed the 9-month-old baby she was carrying.

In a medical first, a 4-month-old fetus doomed to have a disastrously weak immune system was cured by a bone marrow transplant given while it was still in the womb. The baby was born healthy after an otherwise normal pregnancy. At 18 months, he shows no signs of his life-threatening inherited disease, an extremely rare condition known as severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome. The surgery, described in the Dec.

Raising hopes that a simple maternal blood test could replace amniocentesis and other invasive techniques, UC San Francisco researchers have accurately diagnosed two fetuses at risk for genetic disorders by analyzing the mothers' blood. Reporting in Thursday's issue of Nature Genetics, the scientists said they were able to test for single-gene disorders by isolating and studying fetal cells in the mothers' samples.

Government officials concluded that an air bag killed an 8-month-old fetus in which the mother was only bruised, the first such confirmed death of its kind, USA Today reported. The 35-week-old fetus was killed in Georgia in 1994 when a pregnant woman was involved in a slow-speed crash, the newspaper reported. The woman told National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigators she was wearing her seat belt, the paper said.

Autopsy results released Monday conclude that a fetus found in a toilet by a plumber responding to the report of a blocked commode was stillborn. "The mother probably will not be charged," Sheriff's Lt. Ron Wilkerson said. "At this point, it doesn't look like there was any crime committed." The 18- to 20-week-old fetus was found about 4 p.m. Sunday in an apartment building in the 8200 block of Chapman Avenue, Wilkerson said.

Pregnant women should be encouraged to undergo voluntary AIDS testing in light of studies showing that the drug AZT can dramatically reduce transmission to the fetus, federal health officials said. Guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which promote counseling and testing, are not without controversy. Many in the AIDS community fear they may lead to mandatory testing for recipients of federally supported health services.

It was probably inevitable, what with the explosive growth of the video industry: the birth of the "keepsake" ultrasound video. That is, "entertainment" videos of Junior in the womb, carefully edited with music, fancy graphics and even subtitles for showing-and-telling by expectant parents. But this is one newfangled idea government officials hope to kill. The Food and Drug Administration has reacted to non-medical video companies opening at malls or in private homes with a swift uh-uh.