"Sextuplets" doing well; triplets not

[NewsWhore]

The five surviving sextuplets born last week (one was stillborn) are doing well and are able to breathe on their own after their breathing machines were removed. Dr. Luis Rivera, who is helping to care for the babies, said that if all continues going well, they would be able to drink breast milk within a day or two. Unfortunately the triplets who were born last Saturday have passed away, as was predicted. The babies were born prematurely, weighing 500 grams, and doctors gave them little chance of survival. Listin Diario writes that the babies had shown slight improvements, but they were born much too early, at 23 weeks. Rivera says that 100% of children born at that weight in Latin America die. He says that only one Dominican child, who was born weighing 330 grams, has survived. That child, currently very healthy, is one of four children in the world, according to Rivera, who have survived after being born at such a low weight. Hoy quotes Rivera as saying that the authorities need to regulate assisted pregnancies because multiple births could become "an epidemic". Rivera points to the cost of caring for such cases, mentioning that this recent group has cost about RD$2 million to care for so far, and also says that these types of pregnancies put the rest of the family in danger.
As reported in the Listin Diario, Dr. Rivera says that the premature births are due to the use of low cost fertilization methods. He urged that the Ministry of Public Health rule on assisted fertilization so the many cases of multiple births do not continue. Rivera says that this is urgent or else the multiple births will continue as parents seek financial gains (apartment, jobs, subsidy) that those with multiple births have already received from the government.

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