The extremely controversial circumstances of their high-order multiple birth have led to debates in the field of assisted reproductive technology and an investigation by the Medical Board of California of the fertility specialist involved in the case.
Suleman claimed to have requested the transfer of six embryos that she had accumulated from previous IVF treatments, despite being informed that the recommended guideline limit for a woman her age was three.
In her February 5, 2009, interview, Suleman stated that she held each of the octuplets for 45 minutes a day, holding the smallest, Jonah (born at 1 lb, 8 oz), the longest.
[15][16] The hospital where the octuplets were expected to spend seven to twelve weeks, requested significant reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the eight premature babies.
[17] Suleman's mother stated that a single sperm donor named David Solomon[18] was used to produce the octuplets as well as her previous six children.
[21] The octuplets' grandfather and others have accused Suleman of making up a fictitious David Solomon, as she had used the name for the father on birth certificates of her other children, but with a different birthdate.
[22][23][24] On the February 23, 2009, edition of ABC's Good Morning America, a man named Denis Beaudoin claimed to be the biological father of Suleman's children.
[28] In 2009 the octuplets' maternal grandfather, 67-year-old Edward Doud Suleman, identifying himself as a former Iraqi military man, said he would be returning to his native Iraq as a translator and driver, in order to financially support his daughter and her 14 children.
[38] State Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod introduced legislation to have fertility clinics placed under the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California.
[citation needed] The Medical Board of California announced on February 6, 2009, that it was investigating Dr. Kamrava, the physician who transferred the embryos, in an attempt to substantiate if there was a violation of the standard of care.
[40][41][42] Kamrava had also provided fertility treatment to a 49-year-old woman who was uninsured, 5 months pregnant with quadruplets, and hospitalized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where at least seven embryos were used.
The complaint also stated that Kamrava had exercised gross negligence, acted "beyond the reasonable judgment" of any physician, and used a number of embryos that "far exceeded" existing guidelines.