万花筒 2009-02-05&02-07 八胞胎惹争议（在线收听）

We are back turning now to southern California, where a woman this week gave birth to eight children. And as the novelty of the initial news subsides, there are now some rather tough questions being asked. As with many health care issues these days, questions mostly have to do with the cost of fertility and the collision with fertility in cost. More now from our chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

“They are acting very good. They are very feisty”

Just days after giving birth to octuplets, their mother issued a statement, thanking the delivery team and calling the births a blessing.

"My family and I are ecstatic about all of their arrivals."

With the arrivals a revelation, the mother already has six children ranging at ages from two to seven, including a set of twins. How she became pregnant with the octuplets is still unknown.

"Our patient came to us in the first trimester of pregnancy from an outside provider. Our patient was counseled regarding her options for the pregnancy. The options were to continue the pregnancy or to selectively abort. The patient chose to continue the pregnancy."

Multiple births are rare, and for most infertility clinics, not the objective.

 "Our goal is to make a patient pregnant with a single embryo."

The risks to both mother and babies in multiple births are many, and the cost?

Preterm and complicated births can cost up to 400,000 dollars per baby. Multiply that by eight and the cost is staggering.

While there are no federal regulations governing fertility treatments, there are guidelines for fertility doctors. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine says "We have a process for looking into these kind of matters and taking appropriate actions".

"Patients make good decisions when they have good information, so it's all our obligation and our responsibility to share this information with patients and help them make good decisions".

While questions and controversy continue to swirl, the hospital tonight reports both mother and babies continue to do well.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC news, New York.