Octomum doctor losing medical license, guilty of abnormal insemination

A doctor who was assigned for Nadya Suleman, better known as Octomum after she gave birth to eight babies at once, is losing his job after being found guilty of gross negligence in implanting a dozen embryos in her and 2 other cases.

The Medical Board of California announced on Wednesday that Dr. Michael Kamrava “did not exercise sound judgment” in the transfer of 12 embryos to the mother and his medical license will be revoked next month.

In the statement, the board said “he transferred what is alleged to be an excessive number of embryos into Nadya Suleman in multiple attempts to achieve pregnancy” in 2008. The board stated that the transfer of embryos is what exceeded the recommended number of the patient’s age and history.

Kamrava started to treat Suleman in 1997.

It was revealed that Suleman has 29 of frozen embryos so that she can use them when she wants to have more babies.

According to Ken Mosesian, executive director of The American Fertility Association, Kamrava deviated from the norm for reproductive endocrinologists. He said In this day and age, we live under the assault of a constant, 24 7 media blitz. People are saturated by the most shocking and horrifying stories of what can, and does, go wrong. But what we don't often hear about is what goes well. Patients need to know that the vast majority of infertility practitioners in the U.S. treat their patients with respect, and adhere to industry standards of care. Thousands of people annually become moms and dads as a result of reproductive medicine. Kamrava is the anomaly, not the norm. The American Fertility Association is relieved by the Medical Board's decision to revoke his license and to protect patients who wish to be parents, in the state of California.

The lawyer of Kamrava argued that he has been “a respected excellent physician and surgeon for 25 years but he ran into sort of a perfect storm with one of his patients.” He blamed Suleman for not aborting “an excessive number” of fetuses and argued that the bad publicity would deter Kamrava from transferring excessive numbers of embryos in the future.

In the other case, Kamrava was found guilty of implanting seven embryos in a mother who was in her late 40s to make her pregnant. The medical board said that her pregnancy was rocked with complications. The doctor also missed cancer diagnosis for other patient who had an abnormal lab report.

Since 1982, Kamrava has been in private practice in endocrinology and infertility in Los Angeles. He is currently the Director of West Coast IVF Clinic, Inc. in Beverly Hills, California. His practice is 25 to 30 percent gynecology and the remainder is IVF. Since 1986, he has been an attending physician in obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center (Cedars Sinai) in Los Angeles.

Kamrava received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois in 1972, and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1976. He holds medical licenses in Ohio since 1976, California since 1979, and Massachusetts since 1980.