Decide Better!

Nadya Suleman’s (Octo Mom) decision to undergo in vitro fertilization and give birth to eight more children, to add to the six children she previously had with in vitro fertilization, has to be considered irresponsible. Even at times she, herself considers the decision irresponsible, as she stated to Dr. Phil McGraw: “My heart was in it. Not my head. I wasn’t thinking rationally.” This leads me to wonder sometimes: Just who is responsible for irresponsible decisions?

Since Octo Mom is a single mother with no job or means of support, the state picks up the tab for her medical expenses and support. The medical expenses alone were more than $1 million. So the tax payers are responsible for this irresponsible decision – at least the consequences of it. Many people are upset that her irresponsible decision will be paid for by the state. If the state ends up supporting them, was it irresponsible for the state to allow Nadya to have eight more children by in vitro?

Should Dr. Kamrava who implanted the six embryos have been more responsible?  He implanted six in her previous pregnancy also, even though fertility specialists generally agree that no more than two or three embryos should be implanted. 

You have to worry about how she will afford to raise 14 children. She claims that she will be able to once she completes her master’s degree in counseling (Ha). That’s irresponsible to think possible. She even told Ann Curry that “What human is capable of caring for 14 children all alone? No human is. You need to be a superhuman, and I’m not a superhuman.” No she isn’t superhuman, nor is she a responsible decision maker.

Who is responsible for irresponsible decisions?

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to all 11 felony charges brought by prosecutors in one of Wall Street’s largest investment swindles, telling the court he is “deeply sorry and ashamed” for his actions.

Reading a statement in the courtroom, Madoff admitted he began operating a giant Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s. He said he knowingly gave false testimony under oath to securities regulators and concealed his fraud by submitting audited reports to the SEC. In three months, Madoff has gone from a man known mostly as a pioneer of electronic trading in securities to an icon for disreputable money managers who live a life of affluence while fleecing those who entrust their life savings to their schemes. Madoff admitted that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie, a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that wiped out life fortunes, school trusts and charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. The money Madoff received was never invested but was used by him, his business and others or, as occurs in Ponzi schemes, was paid out to early investors, prosecutors said.

How can anyone, especially someone already successful, make a decision to do something like this? Does he wake up one morning and decide to create a Ponzi scheme to steal money from others? Does greed overcome reason and responsibility? Or is it progressive: start doing it a little to get through a bad period, then do more because it works but hope to make it good, then get in so deep you have no other choice?

I frankly don’t know how someone makes that decision.