14 Children: Was it ethical?

When I wake up in the mornings, the first thing I do is go downstairs to eat breakfast. I sit in front of the TV with the Chicago news station on, but I tend to doze off and not pay attention. However, the other day I was intrigued by a certain news story.

Earlier this week, a woman from Southern California gave birth to octuplets! She had six boys and two girls, and it was only the second time in American history that a woman has and octuplets that have lived more than several hours after birth. Doctors are saying that the babies are in good condition, and they are expected to live although they must stay in the hospital for a few more weeks. 

When I heard about this miraculous happening, I was at first overjoyed thinking that the babies survived! However, new information was disclosed to the media and public recently. In this Yahoo news article, the public found out that the woman already had six kids before her recent births!!! This has spun a media chaos and an immediate medical ethics controversy.

Some doctors say that it is not their role to decide how big one's family should be, while others are completely appalled by the fact that a doctor would administer fertility drugs, and plant multiple embryos (yes it was invetro fertilization) in a woman who already had six kids!

I understand both viewpoints. A doctor cannot refuse a patient if the patient wishes to have more children. However, this woman was almost 100,000 dollars in debt, and I can't imagine that will be helped with her new grand total of children adding up to 14. The father has been identified, but it hasn't been disclosed whether he is present in the lives of the children, since the woman lives at home with her parents in a single-story house.

I just honestly hope this woman will be able to take care of children, and if that is the case, I wish them a healthy lifestyle!

And in this CBS news article, the father of the mom of these children only wanted one more kid! So is this really an ethical controversy and can the other doctors of America do anything about it?

Picture courtesy of http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45415000/jpg/_45415810_006788823-1.jpg

My New Music Discovery

Apparently I am extremely behind on the Internet's capabilities. After receiving some extremely generous iTunes giftcards, I am newly obsessed with the growing music compilation on my computer. However, I can never create sufficient playlists of the same types of music.

So, of course, when confused, I allowed myself to Google and find an answer. And what do I find but.. Internet Radio! 

I was so confused yet fascinated. How can there be an Internet Radio and how successful would it be? I was directed to Pandora, a free Internet site that uses the Music Genome Project to create personal playlists. You type in a favorite song or artist, and the site creates a playlist of songs that have common characteristics as the one you searched. After typing in Jack Johnson, the site gave me a complete looping playlist of acoustic chill music that is from artists like Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Matt Nathanson, and others. I am absolutely amazed by the quality of the music and the convenience of the site. 

After talking to some of my other friends, apparently they already knew about Internet Radio! However, although it is evident that I am way behind on my new discovery, I remain dumbfounded.. and completely obsessed!

-Image found through Google images from the following site: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007GAEVW.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg