Stupid Is As Stupid Does - And We All Pay For It

Our country is built on a foundation of laws designed to keep order in our society. Some of these laws are passed by legislatures; others are society's laws, the ethical and moral laws that guide us.

Two stories playing out in the news these days underscore the importance of this very basic cornerstone of American life.

The California single mother of six, whose addiction to test tube babies caused her to give birth to 8 more and the President of the Peanut Corporation of America, from which salmonella tainted products were shipped, have something in common. When faced with monumental choices they chose badly. They thought of themselves first -- their happiness or their paycheck -- with no regard to how others would be impacted by their lousy decisions.

To make matters worse those entities, who we rely on to protect us from the foolish (even criminal) decisions of others, failed us.

Let's deal with 33 year old Nadya Suleman first. No husband, no job, no house of her own, her parents with whom she lives have had to declare bankruptcy under the burden, and three of her 6 in-vitro-conceived children have disabilities. She decided to go back for even more in vitro fertilizations! Her doctor presumably knew her situation, but defied his own medical profession's guidelines and implanted way too many embryos. Eight more human beings brought into the world, because Nadya longed for a "huge family" to make up for the loneliness of being an only child.

Geez, I am an only child but I never thought of giving birth to my own nursery school full of children!

Suleman, who also appears to be addicted to collagen lip injections, said she gets no welfare. We now know that's not true. She declared she'll raise all 14 of her children alone. We know that's impossible. Suleman must sense the public assistance spigot may dry up as she's started a web site for donations. I for one refuse to help pay for her delusional behavior.

Maybe it would be better if the state took custody of Suleman's babies and placed them with people who can actually afford children.

Next, let's consider the case of the peanut company CEO, Stewart Parnell, another fantasy thinker. According to several congressional witnesses, and corroborating e-mails written by Parnell himself, he knew there was deadly salmonella in P.C.A. products. But instead of destroying the tainted items and sanitizing his plants Parnell made the choice to do a little "lab shopping" to see if a different laboratory would come up with a different test result. Really bad choice.

In the meantime, Parnell's e-mails reveal bitter complaints about how the company is losing money. "We need to discuss this," Parnell wrote to his plant manager. "The time lapse...is costing us huge $$$$$..."

Here is a man faced with the prospect that his product could kill people and he's more worried about the bottom line, and his own paycheck. Later, via another e-mail, Parnell orders the questionable products be "let loose" to schools, nursing homes and manufacturers who make cookies, candy, crackers, ice cream, granola bars and other products Americans gobble up. It was no surprise when Parnell took the fifth at congressional hearings.

The result was deadly. Nearly 600 people were made so sick they reported it to health officials. To date, 9 deaths are linked to Parnell's salmonella tainted products. Plaintiff's lawyers are lining up to file suit against the corporation, which just conveniently filed for bankruptcy. Prosecutors are researching whether to file negligent homicide charges against Parnell.

Now, may I just ask where was the Food and Drug Administration, which admits that reports of salmonella at P.C.A. plants stretched back to last summer! Where were the federally mandated inspections?

And in the case of Octo-Mom, as Nadya Suleman is now nicknamed, where was the medical community? Unlike other countries we don't have legislation limiting in vitro procedures. Lawmakers have left it up to the doctors to police themselves. Nice job, guys.

One could argue that the actions of both Parnell and Suleman were criminal, one crime against consumers, the other against tiny, incubated babies struggling to live.

I am the last one to call for more government regulation. But the FDA is already in place! The laws are there, the salmonella reports at A.P.C. were longstanding. Someone we taxpayers paid failed to be our backstop. I'd like to know who.

And, the medical community already has its guidelines firmly in place. The American Society For Reproductive Medicine concludes no more than two embryos should be implanted at a time in a woman Suleman's age. Won't even one medical association stand up and publicly condemn the doctor who caused these eight babies to be born?

Too bad we can't pass laws against short-sighted stupidity. -30-

Diane Dimond can be reached through her Web site: www.DianeDimond.net or via [e-mail]

Comments

[tlgeiger62]

Has anyone talked to the underlings of these main characters? Who were the people these emails went to? Who gave the order to ship once it came from "the top"? Do you mean to say NOBODY in the doctors office (nurses, technicians), none of them EVER spoke to Suleman (who admittedly CRAVES attention and would likely welcome an opportunity to talk to anyone who'll listen)?

I know everyone can't (won't) be prosecuted, but I'm just curious about the BYSTANDERS who also contributed to these tragedies.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Tlgiger62- Wow...those are really good questions you've asked.
What about the responsibility of the nurses in that doctor's office? Where were the brave whistler blowers at the peanut company who knew there was a problem with salmonella lab tests?

You know, it sounds corny but we are our brother's keeper - We DO have a responsibility to others, not just ourselves...

I wish I knew the answer to your questions. ~ DD

[danaseilhan]

It's odd that you go on a rampage about Suleman in your article and then defend her in the comments. Either you think she's bad for having kids and should have them stolen from her, or you don't. Eugenics is supposed to be a right-wing thing and anyway, poverty is not a genetic trait.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Danaseilhan - Whaaaat? Where in the world do you see me defending Nadya Suleman? If you are thinking that explaining why child services takes its time in removing children from parents I was somehow siding with her motherhood skills - you are way off base.
I think the woman has a certifiable mental illness!
~DD

[quindy]

Medical community can have all the guidelines it wants, but they also have crooks among themselves. So, instead to rely on self-policing why not have a law? There is nothing wrong with protecting mother's and babies' health. As for adoption, I am with you on that one. The only sad part is, as any mother of multiples will tell you, that these babies are very emotionally attached to each other. Separating them will cause distress no matter how you separate them. I would go after the doctor, especially after his license.

As for the peanut guy - he would be made to eat his peanuts till he gets sick, than he can go to jail for the rest of his days. All the wealth he accumulated on his tainted product should be given to the victims. End of story.

[Perry Clease]

"The only sad part is, as any mother of multiples will tell you, that these babies are very emotionally attached to each other. "

Has that happened yet, have they bonded? I understand where you are coming from, but the time to put the babies into the hands of a responsible mother is now, not when they had some time to bond with each other.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Perry-
There is a school of thought that multiple-birth babies have already bonded in-uterus. I've not studied this but there are reports of twins, separated at birth who go through life feeling profoundly alone - only to find later that their twin died at birth or was adopted to another family. ~ DD

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

It takes a lot for a state to take away children from a parent.
First, there has to be an official complaint - and in this case a media-loving child psychologist in L.A. has already filed one with authorities. But there also has to be a repeated pattern of specific abuse and in the case of Nadya Suleman what would that be? That she's not good with money? That she spends too much on collagen injections and not enough on food and clothes for her children? Fact is the kids she already has seem well fed, with clothes on their backs and a cozy place to sleep at night. Children are not taken away because they live in a crowded house or because there Mom is poor. Its not enough for some stranger doctor to file a paper with child welfare saying, "I don't think she'll make a good Mom".
I predict all these 14 kids will be raised by Octo-mom, as best she can, and THEN if something awful happens the state may move in.
And, I agree with you, Quindy, it would be extremely traumatic to adopt out these 8 babies to different homes. ~ DD

[InternationalObserver]

Thanks for this post about Suleman. Her actions defy logic and yet people seem unwilling to discuss the elephant in the room because there are kids/babies involved. I've just linked this page to the Facebook group 'Just Say NO To Suleman'. Let the madness stop!!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50303479842

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

International Observer:

Stop? But the babies are already here and its safe to say Nadya will never again be implanted with more fertilized embryos.
I'll check out that link but I'm not sure there's much anyone can do - unless, of course, you wanted to make a donation to Suleman's web site and help her out with some cash! ~ DD

[b93950]

Stupidity is synonymous with greed with the idiotic notion that more is better. Tainted peanut butter shipped consumers to save bucks from being wasted, embryos implanted in mass quantities to gain more tax write-offs, it all has the same order, and it stinks.