Eight Is More Than Enough

--Madeleine Brand

How charming that TV series was: eight rambunctious kids, along with the permanently bewildered Dick van Patten as dad and the patiently bemused Betty Buckley as mom. It was a hurly burly funhouse that usually ended in a group hug. And now there's another family romp, the feel-good reality series, John and Kate Plus 8.

'Eight Is Enough'

Courtesy ABC Archives

I'm guessing reality is going to be a little different in the home of the Los Angeles mother who recently gave birth to octuplets. There aren't any names yet, just the letters A through H.

And who knows when they'll be home. They're all premature, and are therefore receiving intensive care. Preemies are also prone to development delays and permanent mental or physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy.

And then there's the cost: it took 46 medical personnel to deliver the babies. Their hospital stay could cost millions of dollars.

Were the mother's doctors acting unethically by allowing this risky pregnancy (both for the mother and the babies) to continue without what's called "selective reduction" of the embryos? Could they have done anything differently, or is it ultimately the parents' sole decision? Given the enormous costs involved and, more importantly, the risks to the babies' long-term health, should the parents have been allowed to carry all those babies to term? Who's to tell them no?

Here's what University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said on the show today: Someone should have told them no. Physicians have a moral responsibility to strongly advise their patients that having mega-multiples is not in the best interests of anyone. (Hear the whole interview here.)

And if these babies were the result of in vitro fertilization -- where the embryos are fertilized outside the womb and then implanted, as opposed to injecting the mom with drugs to stimulate egg production -- Caplan says the doctor should be sued for malpractice.

Comments from you, please. Maybe you've had fertility treatments and had to wrestle with "selective reduction" of embryos. Maybe you didn't wrestle at all with that question. Or maybe you just have an opinion on this story you want to share.

12:09 PM ET | 01-29-2009 | permalink

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A Little Skin With Your Latte?

--Heather Murphy

Bikinis are one thing, pasties are another, at least when it comes to Seattle coffee shops. With espresso huts as prevalent as mile markers, employing scantily clad baristas appears to be one of the easier ways to boost profits. That's what a shop owner told us on the program this morning.

But when servers tossed their tops and started wearing pasties at a shop called Espresso Gone Wild, some residents decided the caffeine provocateurs had taken it too far. Mason County Commissioner Tim Sheldon stepped in and demanded that the bare-istas cover more of their breasts or be considered "unclothed" (and therefore in trouble). The shop pulled the pasties, but the bikini barista wars persist.

Though the phenomenon may be new to Seattle, it's far from novel to other parts of the world. In Santiago, Chile -- at least when I was there three years ago -- there was a "cafe con piernas" (coffee shop with legs) on almost every block. I often observed java-craving new-to-Chile gringas wandering through the darkened doors, only to flee thirty seconds later when they realized they were the lone female customer amid baristas in shiny pleather.

When Hooters finally arrived in Santiago in 2004, the heavily Catholic city embraced it with all its might. El Mercurio (oh how I wish I could find that article) reported that Hooters was to be a sort of cafe con piernas "cueco" -- translating roughly to an elitist bikini cafe. The hottest, classiest girls from the finest cafe con piernas lined up outside to try out for the honor of working there. The simple fact that it was American helped cancel out the restaurant's low-brow reputation. (Reference point: TJI Fridays was considered fine dining there too.)

There are three Hooters in Washington State. None have inspired major protests -- then again, the waitresses there generally keep their shirts on.

5:22 PM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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